The 737 MAX exists because it's so onerous to get government certification for a new airframe (and for governments to certify pilots on a new airframe). Boeing

The 737 MAX exists because it's so onerous to get government certification for a new airframe (and for governments to certify pilots on a new airframe). Boeing would love to ditch all the legacy cruft on the 737 and start from scratch, but doing so would not be cost-effective in today's regulatory environment. The only reason this same issue didn't happen to Airbus is because the plane was high enough to give the pilots time to troubleshoot: > The Alpha Protection activated forcing the aircraft to pitch down, which could not be corrected even by full back stick input. The crew eventually disconnected the related Air Data Units and was able to recover the aircraft.[1] 1. http://avherald.com/h?article=47d74074 http://avherald.com/h?article=47d74074