[sokoloff]

You’re right in the first point, but wrong on the second and then maybe right again on the third. There’s a specific federal law concerning the pitch force curve stability (https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/14/25.173) that the Max violated, meaning it was not going to be able to be certified as a 737 or as a new, clean sheet airplane, with the demonstrated stick force curve.

Now, if you’re going to make a clean sheet design and allow a new type rating, you can change the landing gear and wing design to achieve enough room to set the engines farther back and change the airfoil around them to design a plane that meets 25.173. Boeing already has such a plane: the 757.