MCAS can be disabled, but pilots says this may not help in some situations:

> On the simulator when the stabilizer was "on a dive" at maximum angle, me and my colleagues weren't able to recover a plane.

> If you follow Boeing bulletin, but start the procedure too late, it will only make things worse. Simpler solution (in case of problems right after takeoff) is to release the flaps at least to the first position. This will disable MCAS and give you an additional time.

Source: https://denokan.livejournal.com/204046.html (Russian)

Google translate: https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=ru&tl=en&u=https%3...