In another thread, the off topic comment was made:

"The OLO article finished up by saying the only thing that saved the Qantas jet in the end was the height it was flying at. It speculated on what might happen it the bug struck when the aircraft was near the ground. Well it appears it did strike an aircraft flying near sea level off France over Christmas. Everybody on board died. Fortunately, it was "only" a test crew of 7 or so.

As far as I am aware, Airbus still hasn't found the bug."

The most recent interim factual report indentifies a particular sequence of events that could have caused the inflight upset. The response to this sequence would have been different had the aircraft being flying at a much lower altitude, and consequently there was no danger that the aircraft would have spontaneously descended into the ground.

http://www.atsb.gov.au/publications/investigation_reports/2008/AAIR/pdf/AO2008070_interim.pdf

The A320 that crashed off France during a test flight was a different aircraft type, with different flight software. Further, to the best of my knowledge, the cause of that accident has not been determined. It is a stretch to suggest that the Qantas incident and the A320 crash are in any way related.

Sylvia.

Silvia Else: "The A320 that crashed off France during a test flight was a different aircraft type, with different flight software"

Actually Silvia, the Airbus A330 (Qantas) and the A320 (Air France) have nearly identical fly-by-wire systems. If there is a bug, it is in this fly-by-wire system.

http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/freeabs_all.jsp?arnumber=627364

Silvia Else: "to the best of my knowledge, the cause of that accident has not been determined."

Not officially, no. However, in reports here and to airline pilots I have spoken to, a software bug to be the most likely cause.