Oh, yes, the ol' A320 "Weed Whacker"; subsequently produced with pilot controlled trimming height and a large, red "E-Stop" button that would tell the flight computer "Just shut the Hell up and let a real pilot fly this bird!"
:)
I believe that Airbus have fly by wire, no feedback to the controls and even allowed the pilot to over stress the airframe (no electronic limiting of control input) in the past.
I also believe that Airbus had to modify the vertical stabilizer on some aircraft because of material fatigue or the possibility of over-stressing it. Just not to long ago a plane taking off out of Cuba lost part of its tail, but managed to do an emergency landing unlike the United (?) flight in the US that crashed from a similar structural failure shortly after 9-11.
I don’t think Airbus are unsafe, but despite all the pride and strutting of the Europeans, Boeing makes a better product and does so without massive (13 Billion) in subsidies. You see with the sales of the dream liner that Boeing did their market analysis. The A380 is hardly selling and might just break even or make a “marginal” profit. But will this stop Airbus? Hell no. Airbus has the backing of the governments involved in the consortium. Airbus will sell in Europe regardless of cost or performance. The state owned airline will buy the state built airplane which will be based out of the state run airport for example at Frankfurt. That is how it really works. Airbus was created with dubious means, and till today is backed by the tax payer in Europe. If they are behind and they now they are loosing ground again to Boeing they just get another state injection to develop a A350. Where Boeing has to cough up the money to develop a 787, Airbus gets help from the European states. As a consequence, Airbus will bring out a A350 very soon, despite the fact that a A380 is still not even out yet and cost them billions to develop as well.
Bush (Still one of the greatest presidents in my opinion), screwed the pooch on three things:
Terri Schievo
Mexican boarder
Free trade - Airbus being one of the hot topics
Red6
The A320 is a great plane, its advances are in lots of planes now, Boeing and Airbus.