“Correct. But also recall that Boeing did not even tell the pilots about the existence of the MCAS”
But 737s before MAX had an autopilot. MCAS was an enhancement to that autopilot, wasn’t it, to make the MAX behave like the pre-MAX. So I’m thinking pilots would already know about disengaging an autopilot. I’m guessing here.
“But 737s before MAX had an autopilot. MCAS was an enhancement to that autopilot, wasn’t it, to make the MAX behave like the pre-MAX. “
Not an enhancement. ProtectOurFreedom is correct. MCAS was borrowed from Air Force tanker software in an attempt to jury rig the MAX in order to call it a normal 737 and avoid retraining pilots.
MCAS was something entirely new and pilots were not even informed that it existed or what it was doing.