” To completely disable MCAS it appears that you now need to turn off the breaker which is above your head and not that easy to find in an emergency if you haven’t been made aware of it previously. “
The switches are about waist high on the throttle quandrant between the manual trim wheels.
No, this is what I thought also but it was just explained to me by an airline pilot familiar with the MAX. The switches that are knee high on the left hand side of the co-pilot's trim wheel, are the stabilizer trim cutout switches, but they do not function in quite the same as they did prior to MCAS. The stabilizer trim mechanism that pilots have been familiar with in the last 60 or so years of Boeing aircraft was redesigned in the 737 MAX. To turn off MCAS completely the breaker which is above the pilot's heads as they are seated needs to the switched to the off position.
The airplane is most likely perfectly safe when flown by competent pilots, but the decision was made at Boeing to not inform pilots of the changes in procedure in training, manuals and bulletins and is now the primary reason why they are probably in hot water.
