[bongodriver]

etc where the two pilots of a bomber/airliner need both people to pull out of whatever dive they've gotten themselves into. Seems strange to have 2 controls, but allow them to do different things

most aircraft have the dual controlls physically linked together so they can't operate independently, with airbus sidestick they are like computer joysticks and as IvanK said it's up to the computer to decide which one to pay attention to.

No doubt in my mind that isn't human error, as much as human instinct. When stuff hits the fan, and the brain/heart is racing, it's amazing what you can focus on and what you simply don't realize is happening around you.

When we do our CRM (crew resource management) courses they often use a classic little video to highlight exactly this particular point, the video is of a group of players, half wearing white and the others wearing black, the instructor asks you to count how many times a ball is passed between players wearing whichever colour, when the video finishes he asks how many times....most people give a similar answer, but then he asks if anybody saw the gorilla....anybody who never saw the video before really don't see the gorilla, he plays the video back and sure enough a guy in a gorilla suit walks across the screen and pauses in the middle of it to beat his chest and a carries on out of the picture, it's the same video, but it highlight how when the human brain is really focused or preoccupied it can miss the most obvious things.