Fly-by-wire: protection or control? Airbus and Boeing both use fly-by-wire systems—but their logic couldn’t be more different. Airbus builds in hard limits. Pitch too high? Bank too far? Overspeed? The aircraft says no. Its laws won’t let you break the rules, even if you try. That’s envelope protection. Boeing gives you tools, then gets out of the way. You can pull, bank, stall if you need to. The system trusts the pilot to know better—or take the risk. Same result: safety. But two opposite path