PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - MAX’s Return Delayed by FAA Reevaluation of 737 Safety Procedures
Old 21st Sep 2019, 16:05
  #2470 (permalink)  
PEI_3721
 
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: England
Posts: 995
Likes: 0
Received 4 Likes on 2 Posts
Takwis, #2469, IFF789, #2467,

It is difficult to understand how MCAS is wrong in principle. As a fix for a stability problem identified during flight test, the design (theory) was adequate (expedient, quick, low cost) although an ‘inelegant patch’ compared with changing the underlying aerodynamics - aircraft structure.

The weakness of MCAS was in its implementation - engineering, and thence safety assessment and certification.

An outstanding puzzle is why MCAS is based on AoA opposed to speed in order to cure what appears to be deficient trim-speed stability. From this arises the (false) association with stall issues, yet the existing stall alerting and protection systems remain unchanged.
Why use AoA opposed to speed?

Modifying MCAS to provide engineering and certification integrity, even if the first proposal was inadequate, should not be an onerous task within the current timescale; thus the additional issue of high trim-wheel forces could be a considerable challenge resulting in further delay.
PEI_3721 is offline