Re: One-element vs two-element design

This is why commercial airliners have multiple engines even though the system is less reliable overall than a well designed single engine craft the failure of a single component does not entail the catastrophic failure of the entire system. (there are exceptions to this but the overall concept does work).

Last year, a Boeing in flight over the middle of the pacific ocean had its entire glass cockpit system go dark. After frantic conversation with the air traffic controllers a decision was made to toggle the circuit breakers for the TRIPLE-REDUNDANT computer system onboard, which brought back the displays. Even with a 2+1 setup, things can still go wrong...