Do Boeing and Airbus learn from each other? Air France Flight 447 crashed into the Atlantic Ocean in June 2009. It was later revealed that the FO was unwittingly pulling the sidestick back, stalling the aircraft. The aircraft was an Airbus 330.

China Airlines Flight 006 almost crashed in February 1985 when the captain failed to step on the rudder after a sudden single engine failure at its cruising altitude and it got into a steep spiral. It recovered from the spiral descent thousands of feet above the Pacific Ocean but it experienced significant structural damages. The aircraft was a Boeing 747.

Some people say that the first accident could have been prevented if the sidesticks of the pilots had been inter-connected such that when one pilot moves his sidestick the other moves the same, just like the yoke system of Boeing aircraft. Also, some people say the second accident could have been prevented if the autopilot system had been programmed to correct excessive roll or pitch maneuvers caused by the pilot's control inputs or their absence.

But it looks like neither of the companies has adopted such suggestions, and that got me curious. Do they learn from each other? Do they correct their systems based on their competitor's accidents?
Yes Airbus and Boeing learn from each other: they compete with each other. Both are implementing successful features of the competitor, and when the A320 came to market it required differentiating features to gain market share. The competing design from Boeing, the 737Classic, was completely re-designed in the 90s because of the lower specific fuel consumption of the A320. The other Boeing product competing in this class, the B757, is out of production. The resulting 737NG has outstanding fuel economy as well, partly achieved by the blended winglet which Boeing pioneered for this class of aircraft.



Where the two companies differ is in the design philosophy for interaction of the pilot with the aircraft. The A320 is actually the oldest design of Airbus that is still produced - the type was certified in 1988, while the 737 and the 747 type certificates were issued two decades earlier. The 737 MAX still has a common type rating with the original B737-100 and this poses a limit on the introduction of new flight crew ergonomics. The A320 could completely re-design all known features in cockpit control and implement new ones from military aircraft, such as the side stick which made the F-16 such a successful air superiority fighter.

The OP focuses on accidents and incidents which happened with the planes, due to incorrect pilot action. This is a subject where everybody learns from everybody, to continue to make air travel safer:


Every accident is thoroughly analysed in order to find the cause and prevent it from happening again in the future. This is done by independent government organisation who only focus on the cause of the accident, nothing else. The NTSB in the USA, the BEA in France.
As a result of this, there may be improvements imposed by the overseeing regulatory aviation organisations: FAA in the USA, EASA in Europe. They may write directives for aircraft manufacturers to implement changes in the design of the aircraft if that is where the incident cause was, or in the training procedures of pilots if pilot error was found to be a factor.


The ultimate proof of the pudding is in safety, and both Boeing and Airbus have excellent and very similar safety records for their aeroplanes. There are many ways that lead to Rome - everybody learns from everybody, and continues to improve their design which will always differ to an extent from the competition.