I thought I would provide a separate thread here on this issue since it is really orthogonal to the debates about whether the pilots could have / should have been able to save the plane. One interesting claim (and I take news reports with a grain of salt) is that there were allegedly problems with the "MCAS control cut out switches" whatever that is supposed to refer to. Food for thought and at the very least an indication of the problem that Boeing faces in the public's mind. A 15-minute IPAD self instruction course is probably not going to be an adequate response to this issue.
Boeing insiders contacted FAA after Ethopian crash report released
Among the complaints is a previously unreported issue involving damage to the wiring of the angle of attack sensor by a foreign object, according to the source.
Boeing has reportedly had previous issues with foreign object debris in its manufacturing process; The New York Times reported metal shavings were found near wiring of Boeing 787 Dreamliner planes, and the Air Force stopped deliveries of the Boeing KC-46 tanker after foreign object debris was found in some of the planes coming off the production line.Other reports by the whistleblowers involve concerns about the MCAS control cut-out switches, which disengage the MCAS software, according to the source.
(Sort of interesting example of poor design just happened when I tried to create a post here for the first time. If you hit backspace too many times you can somehow get out of the focus of the edit window, and then Microsoft Edge interprets the backspace as a "go to previous page" command, making you lose all of your typing. User error to hit backspace too many times, but....)