Originally Posted by
Denti
I know the 737 does not have a stick pusher, but, at least in the NG, it did increase stick power approaching a stall. That seems to be insufficient in the MAX, or not included in its systems. Below an excerpt from the NG FCOM, latest version i flew which is by now a few years old. If i understand it, there is now a fourth system with MCAS to aid in that situation.
Denti - thanks for your reply. I feel as if your words have finally drilled something into my thoughts that I had not been allowing in before. I think I was just too stuck on the classic notion of a stick pusher in the form of a new, external "muscle" of some sort. What I think you are suggesting is that because the pilot is already pulling the column when the AOA range of concern is reached, why not increase required pull force by stiffening the variable column feel gradually as a function of AOA? The 737 column feel system (both NG and MAX) already has functionality to provide a relatively sharp increase in column stiffness when passing through an AOA threshold somewhere beyond stick shaker AOA. It may be possible to modify this to provide a more gradual increase in stiffness that would address the issue for which MCAS was fitted.
I'll give this some more thought, but I feel you (and others making similar suggestions - my apologies for not recognizing those earlier) may be on to something here. I'll check with some people I know who are more expert on the associated requirements to see if this might be another approach that would satisfy the associated cert regulations.
Thanks, again - the value of the public square that PPRUNE is needs to be acknowledged and maintained.
FCeng84