Avionista #4661
MCAS needs to be removed completely from the 737 Max as it is a far too powerful and dangerous solution to the issue of stick force gradient at high angles of attack.
We know why it's there, and more or less what it does, but I have to agree with this part of the above post. It's been nagging at me since November.
Why is such a powerful tool used to simply stop the PF heaving back too easily at a high AoA?
Boeing chose not to use conventional stall protection but instead devise a system that changes the aircraft's overall handling at a critical time. For a few moments, they are trying to make the MAX be something it's not. The necessary certifiable handling characteristics are
synthesised by moving over 47 feet of flying surface - it's as though the design of the entire aircraft was being momentarily tweaked to cover one issue.
This vast surface is altered to give this synthetic nose down just at a time there's presumably a danger of the wings stalling. If it was capable of a lightning fast return to normal datums, it would just about be acceptable, but any return has to be done by the cranking of that jack. On that dark and stormy night, a last minute change of runway and a moment's inattention. Is that extra weight on the pole going to save the day? If it doesn't, even with a fully serviceable aircraft, it seems to me that the problem of an embarrassing stick shake could be turned into something orders of magnitude worse.