Originally Posted by
RobertS975
The Max flies just fine... the basic reason for the MCAS software was to make the handling characteristics of the MAX similar to the NGs so that no significant extra training would be required. A couple of hours of simulator time to emphasiz the relatively minor changes in handling with power changes would have been money well spent by Boeing, but somehow the Rube Goldberg like MCAS was the plan instead. All MCAS was supposed to do is force the plane to handle like an NG.
My point was that a 50 year old airplane that was designed in a time where ramp stairs was the way pax were loaded/unloaded, bags were offloaded by hand (without beltloaders), and customers were not as fat, etc. is obsolete. I didn't intend this to be a technical convo about MCAS, but yes, I'm well aware of it and Boeing's botched rollout of it. I don't think this is the place to rehash that. Had Boeing gone clean slate and designed a modern NB airplane, it would be a moot point anyway...