Originally Posted by
RVF750
Anyone hazard a guess as to why they didn't try an aerodynamic solution. Let's face it a tab or smallish strake glued onto the upper sides of the nacelles wouldn't look too bad and kill the lift at high AoA? I take it KISS doesn't go far at Boeing.....
Not to contradict the esteemed gums, but they
did try aero fixes - various strakes on the inlet and add-ons to the wing. None of them worked sufficiently well to alleviate the loss of stick gradient at high AOA. At some point - with huge barn doors on the inlets to spoil the lift - they probably could have made the aero fix work, but it was deemed impractical due to costs, weight, and fuel burn.
Then they tried MCAS and it worked like a charm.
The problem wasn't so much the concept of MCAS, it was the implementation.