First Off I'm not an Airbus fan but the A380 being a mistake ?? Not even close brother ! There ain't enough concrete around to support the shed-loads of RJ's and short-length low cost carriers, based on this concept the amount of actual air traffic has been and will remain finite unless we build some more runways....why you think aircraft with more capacity were put into production in the first place? Wasn't just for seat money, was based on the long term outlook of predicted traffic saturation and the most economical method of filling that requirement.
Airbus aren't trying anything new here, Boeing rolled a hell of a large set of dice with some big old hairy ones behind it on the original 4 engine airliner concept and won...massively so, Airbus are just borrowing the same concept.
I agree that we would be looking at quite a nasty disaster should this ever go bad, however....unfortunately...the old stick 'n rudder guy...guy with massive experience in over 20 aircraft etc etc is a dinosaur, the airlines of the future don't want him in their flightdeck, in fact they would rather not have anyone at all. One of the only massively unpredictable components in air travel is the human fellow or fellowess up front, how nice ( and I'm playing Devil's advocate here ) if the Airlines could get rid of him/her completely, thus reducing new transportation technology into a set of mathematical risk equations with a known risk assesment and somewhat predictable outcome.
The percentage is tiny, almost immeasurable, due to the ethereal standard we as pilots try to achieve.....however... fly by wire in an Airliner is just the first step to total automation, may not happen in our lifetime but it is going to happen, to some degree, sometime in the future.
The Scarebus 380 is the future's flagship, based on current economical and technological requirements with a view to what the future will hold in store on down the road.
Don't y'all get bent out of shape, our generation of highly trained professional individuals won't be affected and the generations to follow will also likely see little change, but change is coming.
I love aviation, love everything about it, have lived it and breathed it, lost a marriage to it and folks I gotta tell ya, sometimes on the weekend after a coupla glasses of wine, I look at my cat and think...hey wouldn't some job security be nice?
So bring on the 380, pay me a wage commensurate with my experience, let me retire in blissful happiness and die before I see a future that has no place for me or all the other type A shi t hot aviators and friends I've met along the way.
Blue skies y'all !!
Now get back to studying your economics - quickly!
