> Thank you for the extensive response. With that context, I would say "full control" should amount to the ability of a pilot to overrule systems that may send

> Thank you for the extensive response. With that context, I would say "full control" should amount to the ability of a pilot to overrule systems that may send an aircraft nosediving due to faulty sensors. Thanks for reading it :) . As you phrased it specifically, I can't disagree with you. But in these systems, the devil is in the details. For Boeing's MCAS, which is like an add-on piece of functionality to the core control system, it seems like an obvious piece which should have a manual override - and it does. The criticism, as I understand it based on Lion Air, is that the override functionality is not obvious and if you were previously a 737 pilot on non-Max variants, you might not know about this or have practiced its use. However, consider safety systems such as Automatic Ground Collision Avoidance System ("Auto GCAS") or Automatic Air Collision Avoidance System ("Auto ACAS"). These systems are designed as reactions to multiple known cases of human error that have resulted in otherwise under-control aircraft being flown into the ground or other aircraft. They are specifically designed to override a mistaken human. Technically, it's not impossible that pathological failures or spoofing could trigger these automated systems, which would wrest control away from pilots. Should such systems be overridable at all times? Resolving these kinds of issues does involve some judgment and adopting a philosophy prior to the implementation. Airbus and Boeing, for example, have historically differed in their philosophies, each with reasonable rationale. I personally favor the approach Boeing has historically used, with AF447 and QF32 illustrating some of the pitfalls of Airbus' approach. For example, as pointed out by ggreer in https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19355402 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19355402 , being susceptible to common mode faults. However, I still fly on either manufacturer's aircraft without hesitation.