Originally Posted by
infrequentflyer789
Not just that, my understanding is that the e-cab is supposed to be exactly the same computers running the same software as the actual plane, so saying it was faulty "simulator software" doesn't make sense, to me at least. We don't know which software version it was, if it was the same as final production or indeed if it is a version that was ever flight tested - maybe Forkner made a defect report on it and it was modified before it flew. But that isn't what Boeing is saying, what they are saying makes no sense. Also worth noting that the e-cab isn't full motion (from the pics I have seen) so wouldn't have been able to replicate -ve g effects or anything like, and nor does it appear he had stick shaker or EFS to contend with, yet he still appears to have had a big problem with it.
There's another problem with Boeing statement though - they insist the FAA and other CAAs were informed of the changes to MCAS (directly contradicting the JATR report - not like B are going to need anything from those organisations any time soon...), and also that those changes were demonstrated in flight testing in Aug 2016. Forkners messages are from November 2016. So they were flight testing in August but the magic simulator which was supposed to mean they didn't need actual flight tests was "still undergoing testing and qualification and had not been finalized" in November. Huh?
Final irony, for those that haven't spotted it already, is of course that had Boeing really really captured the regulator and been allowed to certify "without test flights" they would never have discovered their modelling c**k-up, they would never have changed MCAS, and the MAX would probably have been safer... (and no that doesn't mean I think it should have been done that way).
Wasn't the need to extend MCAS to the low speed 1G region only discovered fairly late in the flight test campaign? I am sure I've read that from a reliable(?) source, could be Leeham or SatcomGuru. If so, then an August demonstration might have only involved the high speed +1G wind up turn? I dont trust anything Boeing is saying now without some other verification.
First flight was on Jan 29 2016 and FAA certification was in March 2017.