[nobodyandproud]

Thanks for clearing that up.

Now is it unusual for sensors and computer controls to help meet the airworthiness requirements?

I’m guessing it’s definitely not preferable.

I also think everyone is agreed that Boeing (the company and decision makers) really fucked up here, but it seems like a chain of bad decisions at every stage has played a part in this disaster.

[mgsouth]

There's all kinds of these artificial enhancements in aircraft. They range from "stick shakers" [0] (which cause the control stick/yoke to shake when the plane detects a near-stall) to yaw dampers (which counteract "Dutch Roll" in swept-wing planes) [1] to full-blown "you tell me what you want and I'll keep the plane from tumbling out of the sky" control systems for fighters [2]. There are also "flight envelope protection" systems which prevent pilots from overstressing aircraft. What's uncommon is for them to lack redundancy. Yeah, Boeing has much bigger problems than just MCAS.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stick_shaker

[1] https://aviation.stackexchange.com/questions/6391/what-is-th...

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_F-117_Nighthawk#cite_...