Originally Posted by
canyonblue737
It isn't true. The MCAS system exists simply to aid with nose down trim in high angle of attack, close to a stall recovery because the new MAX has a greater pitch up tendency when pilots apply maximum thrust (in the recovery from a near stall) and regulators saw pilots sometimes didn't add enough forward control force when faced with an unexpected pitch up in those critical situations. The MCAS system likely will never be seen operating by a 737 MAX pilot in their entire aviation career so it isn't like it is making the plane fly the same on a daily basis for type rating purposes or something.
As has been discussed to death in the main accident thread, MCAS is there to counteract the decreased aerodynamic pitching moment stability vs. alpha, not the thrust-pitch coupling effect