Originally Posted by
dinbangkok
Regardless of whether you're a pilot or not, surely the question that needs to be answered is simple: How is it remotely OK for Boeing (or any other manufacturer), to sell a passenger aircraft that needs software to correct an aerodynamic imbalance in the design of the aircraft (prone to pitching up)?
By the same reasoning why it was ok in earlier (think 707) models to include an analogue electronic device that does almost exactly the same thing, to bring the 707 in line with the same certification requirement.
Why would it not be ok? All fly-by-wire airliners, i. e. practically all that were developed since the late 1980s, cannot demonstrate unassisted control forces, because it is all artificial. That is even true for fully conventionally controlled aircraft such as the 747. Even the Comet (which predates the 707) had no aerodynamically created control forces, but fully powered flight control surfaces and only a spring-loaded artificial feel system.
Bernd