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by somecontext 2652 days ago
I don't know whether this is "the last time", but perhaps others might find this example informative.

The A320 first crashed on literally its first passenger flight "(in service for two days)". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_France_Flight_296

Later, an A320 crashed less than two months after delivery. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Airlines_Flight_605

These two crashes, as well as a third flight later, Wikipedia describes as "a series of crashes caused, at least in part, by what was believed to be pilots' unfamiliarity with the sophisticated computer system of the Airbus A320". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_Inter_Flight_148

Different sources disagree on the causes of these flights. Most indicate "pilot error", but the pilots themselves and other organizations dispute these reports and instead claim design flaws with the aircraft. In general, most discussions of the accidents focus on the new fly-by-wire system.

1 comments

That initial A320 flight was a demo flight for journalists where the pilot was intentionally pulling stunts like flying very low in front of spectators. Turns out he was flying lower than intended and basically plowed into the forest at the end of the runway. There was a long, still unsolved debate about where the A320 reacted correctly to the pilot's eventual commands to rev the engines and pull up, but ending up needing to do that was definitely not the plane's fault.