The ad is well thought out and certainly spells it all out in the areas covered. There are some things that have not been widely covered and I am hoping they could be illuminated soon.

One area of interest is the safety and survivability of the A330's fly by wire system and how this system could be properly integrated into a battle ready tanker.

How would the Airbus FBW system fare during an attack?

How would the Airbus normal laws be changed to allow defensive maneuvering and/or abrupt edge of the envelope flight profile changes.

According to professional pilots, during bad weather and crosswind landings, the A3xx fly by wire system is a poor substitute for conventional flight controls (707-767) and the Boeing fly by wire implementation ala 777.

With so many computers controlling the flight path on the more fragile A330, could there ever be sufficient degradation modeling for the civilian Airbus design applied to the military mission?
Instructors and high time pilots can testify how the fly by wire system does strange things - with no understanding of why and no answer forthcoming from the manufacturer. They can only blindly ask, Why does it do that?

Will EADS/Airbus release the programming of all of the fly by wire A330 systems to the Air Force for review. Most of us have heard of 'Easter Eggs' in commercial software. With the right key combinations, hidden programming comes to life. Will we just have to trust the Toulouse programmers with on of our most important Air Force assets?

How would Airbus fly by wire system hold up compared to the tried and true cable/hydraulic actuators on the 767 in simulated battle, EMP events or enemy radio jamming (EMF)? Was this taken into serious consideration by the Air Force?

Since the A330 was designed for commercial airline use, these things are an accepted part of the design. Compromises and gray areas. Would the same compromises and doubts make a prudent in a military machine? I think not.

Most surprises during wartime are unwelcome ones. The last thing an Air Force tanker pilot needs to worry about is a surprise hiding within his airplane's flight control system.

I am an aviation and space enthusiast since I was a child and witnessed, with total astonishment, the first man walking in the moon when I was just sixteen.

Now I am 55 years old, still working in the information systems area, and I just can't remember how many hours I had flown in both domestic and international flights. I never had any kind of problem flying with Boeing commercial airliners, ranging from the vintage 707 to the 767.

In contrast, I had to flight aboard the Airbus less than ten times, and at least in five of them I had delays ranging from one to six hours due to technical problems... In my mind, it is crystal clear that the Boeing airplanes are very reliable!!

I really could not understand the decision of the USAF, and hope that this protest would lead to a revision of this procurement.

Faithfully Yours,

Rubens Takemassa Sirax