Originally Posted by
Oakape
For years military aviation has been going down the path, where the aircraft needs a certain level of automation just to be able to fly. It seems that that philosophy is creeping into commercial aviation in the never ending quest for cost reduction & the 737 MAX & it’s MCAS is evidence of that trend. The thing the designers seem to have forgotten or ignored is that in an airliner we can’t eject when the automation fails or does what is unintended.
The real problem with 737 MAX is the overlaying of FBW features (some initially hidden) on an updated legacy design to make it mimic an earlier version to keep it 'in family'.
A 737 MAX airframe made fully FBW Airbus sidestick style would be a safe airplane with no need for kludges such as MCAS or STS.
From what I have read even 'raw mode' would be fine although a bit touchy in some cases.
Of course then it would no longer be a 737 so that would be a non-starter.