Boeing Says Optional 737 Max Alert Was 'Not Activated as Intended'

This is pretty rubbish. AOA disagree would have been a good clue to what was going wrong and it sounds like it should have been a standard safety feature. It's hard to believe that this was made optional. You have to question the level of testing and the certification process as a whole. This MCAS disaster is a stain on Boeing and the FAA's reputation. I hope the FAA is going to come down harder on the reintroduction of the 737 max than recent media reports indicate.

>"After the Lion Air event, Southwest was notified by Boeing that the AOA disagree lights were inoperable without the optional AOA indicators on the MAX aircraft," a Southwest spokesman said on Tuesday.

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>However, the company said following software modifications all new 737 MAX aircraft would have an activated and operable disagree alert and an optional angle-of-attack indicator, while current 737 MAX planes would have the ability to activate the disagree alert.