... I mean when the electronics fail.
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Most high performance aircraft are fly-by-wire and they don’t work if the electronics fails, but these types of aircraft have layers of backup systems.
With some of the more exotic aircraft, like the F-117 Nighthawk, the plane is so inherently *unstable* that even if manual controls existed, it would be impossible to fly manual-only.
Perhaps. But we’re not talking about military aircraft here operating from relatively remote air bases. These are commercial aircraft operating from urban airports. These aircraft must, in my view, be inherently stable and be able to operate in degraded conditions with steam gouges and mark-one eyeball.