Furthermore, the 737Max has the same flight control system, the sole difference being the mechanical aileron - spoiler mixer unit being replaced by a flybywire unit that replicates the mechanical one with less weight. So, the system does meet modern certification.
The 737 is running on grandfather certification rights, and systems that remain the same do not have to be recertified. This does not mean these systems meet modern certification. Please correct me if I am wrong.
As to flying on stab trim. Sure. But most other aircraft have an intermediate option, between both elevators working and having to use the trimmer. It is called a proper control split. There is normally a switch or lever, and a simple pull separates one side from the other. So if a rhs control column, cabling, or elevator jams or freezes solid, the lhs system can fly the aircraft in almost the normal mode. Its called redundancy. And only after both elevators jam, do you need to use a trimmer. (And use the trimmer in the reverse sense, if it is a trailing tab trimmer. Which is confusing, but has been done for real in Manx.)
But in the 737 if one elevator jams or ices up, you lose the whole elevator system. That is not redundancy, that is 1950s technology still running 65 years later. It is like going to the car show room, and being shown a brand new Ford Popular with a new engine and dashboard. Would you buy it?
Ford releases their new 2016 model, following Boeing philosophy.
The new model has a new engine and uprated dashboard.
