Originally Posted by
tdracer
Nice post, too bad it's almost entirely wrong.
There is something called the "Changed Product Rule" or CPR (and before you get on about the FAA, CPR has been completely harmonized with EASA).
CPR basically says that when you make a major change to an aircraft (and new engines qualify), anything that is changed has to step up to the latest regulations.
If you bother to check the MAX TCDS, you'd find precious few regulations date back to the original 737 TCDS (mainly having to do with structures).
For all the problems with the MAX, the regulations it was certified to are not one of them.
But the interpretation (selection) of classification/s have been somewhat bias in the design process, lots of lets call dark grey areas white!
So while the MAX was indeed compliant whit the latest regulation/s that Being deemed was the classifications to be meet - they fudged the numbers and the result ended catastrophic TWICE because that classification was two rungs lower than what it should have been.
I would love to see the paper trail of the reduction of manual trim wheel size that happened from the NG - no doubt it was not classed as a major change (hard to believe when the roller coaster manoeuvre was documented for the larger wheel).
Lots of smoke and mirrors seem to have been used over the last few models.