Originally Posted by
infrequentflyer789
The aft-column cutout would have prevented the crashes, period. Overriding it should have been a red flag. I don't know, but I can pretty much guarantee that it wasn't put there decades ago because a design team had a few spare switches and relays to use up on a Friday afternoon after a hard liquid lunch in the pub. The fact that it was necessary to override it to make MCAS work at all, doesn't justify doing it - it should in fact have been a flag that MCAS was wrong in principle.
Thank you, infrequent. That is a point I have tried to make several times in the various 2000+ comment threads on the MAX. But it keeps getting lost in the fog. And the MAX manual STILL says the control column switches function as designed. Those switches were the signature on the contract that said the pilots always have the last word. The contract was broken, and we weren't even told about it.
And to you as well, gums. Good point. Salute.