Originally Posted by
canopus27
@
bimmerdriver, i don't believe it's fully accurate to say that the purpose of the MCAS is to make the MAX fly like the non-MAX.
The purpose of the MCAS is to make the MAX compliant with the federal regulations - specifically FAR §25.173 "Static longitudinalstability". The non--MAX planes do comply with this regulation, so a side effect does result in consistency with the MAX ... but type consistency is just a side effect, not the motivation.
So back to the comment from @
ridefar - if the new software fix turns off the MCAS system, pilots will be left with a plane that is not compliant with FAR §25.173.
@
canadiancow brings up a fair observation that pilots are trained how to deal with planes in non compliant and non normal states (engine out being a great example) ... but that leads to two questions: (1) will the MAX pilots be explicitly trained with how to deal with an MCAS out situation - and (2) will pilots even be notified when they are in that situation?
We know that an AOA disagree indicator will now be standard on the MAX, but that's not the same as a MCAS out indication.
We're getting into speculation here, but I've read that MCAS may disable itself if it detects that too many cycles have triggered during a single flight. Suppose that happens - will the pilots be warned? Will they treat that situation with the same level of urgency that they treat an engine out scenario (or perhaps more realistically, an AOA disagree indication)?
You hit the nail on the head. I am not even saying that the non-compliant (due to disengaged MCAS) aircraft is a terrible thing or even significantly harder to fly. I am just questioning what is really being done to train pilots on this aircraft post-fix. Given that nobody has said explicitly what that training includes, it is a bit speculative. But I do think we, the flying public, and customers of AC, have a reasonable basis for wanting to know specifically what training is being done by AC to address the problems. Other airlines too, because most of us fly a lot of different airlines, at least a little bit. But lets start with AC.