Re: Option extra why???
If I’m understanding this correctly, this particular issue was caused by a subtle change in how the AOA data was used between generations.
In prior generations, the AOA was displayed to the pilot to aid situational awareness, but didn’t DO anything directly. As other commentators have noted, you can generally get by without this info, but it becomes important in some unusual situations (which you can mostly compensate for with experience). This the info isn’t considered critical, so the gauge is an option.
But now on the Max, that info directly feeds into part of the plane’s flight control AI, and if the sensor is bad, you can crash. Suddenly knowing that the sensor is bad becomes much more important- but this change in priority didn’t make it into the display design. After all, this change is intended to be transparent to the pilots to avoid retraining costs. The whole goal was NOT to tell them anything is different.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
