Originally Posted by
BDAttitude
It's just that I don't see the costs that could have been cut by doing so.
The CNN feature you have linked seems to be very superficial. I can't see them trying to stall the aircraft or introducing a AOA fault. So where should MCAS come into action. It's a scenic flight in the simulator and the statement that there was no MCAS intervention is ambiguous to me.
Way back in the LionAir threads it was revealed that Max simulator data packs are delivered as binaries with a fixed set of malfunctions, this is another change from NG, and almost certainly is cost-cutting. Result?:
operators no longer have any ability to pick and choose nor introduce malfunctions into their training programs
See post 813 on Lion thread:
Indonesian aircraft missing off Jakarta
If you cannot simulate an AOA failing high (and not all AOA failures will trigger MCAS) then you could only trigger MCAS by flying into a part of the envelope where it is designed to activate in which case the result would be that, in terms of stick feel at least, MCAS counters the additional nacelle lift and it flies like an NG would. That isn't really any help...
It may well be that the only way to accurately simulate MCAS is in the engineering sims at Boeing (or arrange a test flight in an actual Max - plenty spare at the moment - and knock a vane off before you go...).