FWIW, the near-crash in the simulator was apparently not directly related to MCAS, but occurred when Boeing "simulated what would happen if gamma rays from space scrambled data in the plane’s flight-control computers."
> In one scenario, the plane aggressively dove in a way that mimicked what happened in the crashes on the grounded jetliner, the people said. While such a failure had never occurred in the 737’s history, it was at least theoretically possible.
> Because at least one of the pilots who flew the scenario in a simulator found it difficult to respond in time to maintain control of the plane, it needed to be fixed, according to two people familiar with the results.
However, the next sentence seems to belie the implication that this was just an edge case:
> The answer was to modernize what was a relatively antiquated design on the 737.
So, of all the things that caused Boeing/FAA to realize and the accept the 737 needed to modernize its decades-old design, it was a simulated edge case involving "gamma rays from space"? Hate to be overly cynical, but that sounds like the kind of CYA thing you'd say when you don't want to admit it you made a huge mistake by deferring modernization in the first place, of which the MCAS concept was a major and disastrous symptom.
> In one scenario, the plane aggressively dove in a way that mimicked what happened in the crashes on the grounded jetliner, the people said. While such a failure had never occurred in the 737’s history, it was at least theoretically possible.
> Because at least one of the pilots who flew the scenario in a simulator found it difficult to respond in time to maintain control of the plane, it needed to be fixed, according to two people familiar with the results.
However, the next sentence seems to belie the implication that this was just an edge case:
> The answer was to modernize what was a relatively antiquated design on the 737.
So, of all the things that caused Boeing/FAA to realize and the accept the 737 needed to modernize its decades-old design, it was a simulated edge case involving "gamma rays from space"? Hate to be overly cynical, but that sounds like the kind of CYA thing you'd say when you don't want to admit it you made a huge mistake by deferring modernization in the first place, of which the MCAS concept was a major and disastrous symptom.