Well most on here I guess haven’t flown the MAX, all I can say is that having got 300+ hours on the MAX it’s a lovely bit of kit to fly, or was!!
First of let let me say that in light of the Ethiopian crash grounding was a no brainier, I’ve heard people say ah well it’s Indonesian or Africain pilots, but there’s the rub, aircraft are sold all over the world and should be fairly idiot proof, that’s not to suggest that the pilots involved were idiots, anyone who has flown the 738 is well aware that the STS involves lots of trim changes to match the Stab to the speed at lower speeds and weights, we are all used to the trim wheel wizzing back an forth, so we don’t immediately go “ah stab runaway” and flick the cut out switches.
So for Boeing to bolt on a sub system onto the STS and not tell us about it is probably criminal, yes flicking the switches will sort it but STAB Runaway you expect continous triming, not triming in fits and starts because that’s normal at lower speeds.
Turning to the way forward I have no doubt that Boeing will resolve this problem, yes maybe a rebrand of sorts, of course were there to be a further airframe loss even if unrelated that would spell serious trouble for airlines flying the max.
I expect it will be back flying in 2-3 weeks give or take, how long it will take the passenger to return is open to speculation.