G200,
It's not an Airbus, it's a Dassult product and that's the problem.
Not that initial FBW and Airbus technology was all that impressive. I still remember seeing the Air France A320 try to do the low pass (into the trees).
Please don't preach the safety of FBW until you have lived through the growing pains of being the first kid on the block to get a low serial number Falcon Jet.
I am not that old, but I am old enough to remember when I was an A&P tech for a company that got s/n 19 and 24, from Dassault, the CEO had to be the first kid at HPN with a new 900. What a POS! Nothing worked right, the APU never started, Dassault would tell us, not our problem. That was until we sent s/n19 sideways down a runway because the "French" didn't know how to design a T/R (Falcon Jet answer,"it's not our fault, it's YOUR PILOTS fault"). I would stand next to the "old timers" and they would tell me this is the way the 50 (initially designed with no APU) was when it came out. Got to love that 200 with the reverse flow engines.
Then years later, I was on the receiving end of "we just bought 3 F2000's (all s/n's under 25). They didn't work worth a crap either. I personally remember showing up at the hanger to depart the morning my buddy had a sudden stoppage right at V1 with a full load of pax trying to stretch HPN-SJC. I watched when the tech's opened the cowl and all of those nuts and bolts hit the hanger floor like my kid dropping his Lego's out on the carpet.
Not even two months later I was on the receiving end of a complete (I forgot which side) loss of one hyd system. All I did was drop the gear, come to find out, they forgot to permaswage the hyd fitting that comes off the eng hyd pump.
No big deal but when I asked Falcon Jet Engineers, "why it required full aileron deflection to control the aircraft", Falcon Jet answer "you are an idiot, what are you talking about that can't happen".
It turns out that in certain situations that ONLY ONE leading edge slat will extend on it's own at slow airspeeds because their isn't an hyd pressure to hold it up and airspeed pressure isn't enough. I guess having one slat extend on it's own, when you are low and slow, was an acceptable design criteria for those particular engineers.
I've been stuck in Rochester MN in the dead of winter because it was actually too cold for the F2000 to operate ("Falcon Jet answer, we have never seen that happen before"). Left high and dry in the Hot Austin sun because of a massive fuel leak coming out of the right engine FCU (that was actually dangerous, Falcon Jet answer, "that can't happen") Man I could go on and on about what happens when you are the first kid on the block to receive a new Falcon Jet. Or Gulfstream..
Now you want to tell me that this time it will be different, and I am a "moron" for thinking that the same Dassault engineers will produce a completely flawless FBW system. Ok, whatever, my butt ain't getting in one until they hit at least s/n 100+. I love my family too much, I'll let all you FBO Heros work out the kinks. Oh that's right the system will be perfect from inception.
I still want to know, who were the operators that were jumping up and down screaming give up FBW. Their weren't any. The push pull tubes on a Falcon are far superior to the cables on a Gulfstream. So, why did they get rid of that system? That's a question I would love to ask a Falcon sales rep. New technology(great)? Weight? It wasn't the competition.
I don't ever recall the Ailerons, Elevator or rudder on a Falcon being un-reliable. When something works don't F with it, unless you are French.
