This wasn’t related to autopilot and they removed mention of the MCAS system from the documentation to support the main selling point of the 737 MAX, which was that existing 737 pilots would be able to switch easily without recertification. They knew that they’d lose most sales to Airbus if the aircraft were compared on their merits so they were banking hard on their huge pool of certified pilots as the competitive edge.
If you listen to podcasts, these two episodes of Causality are excellent:
Ha, playing hardball! I wonder whether you’d find pilots who are Boeing loyalists who’d take offense, or if those guys are even madder at the current management for letting them down.
>> Because the pilots should have been trained to unplug the computer to stop it from crashing the plane?
Yes.
The fault lies with the airlines because I don't for a second believe they didn't put pressure on Boeing to get the MAX certified without mandating retraining.
And then once that was done, didn't dig into the details too hard about what changes were made.
I have a low tolerance for 'I set up all the conditions and incentives to encourage you to break the law... but you should take all the blame when it explodes.'
At some point, the customer has to take some responsibility for what they asked for.
It’s easier to blame Boeing because they made the damn thing its documentation. We know for a fact they are at fault. Some or all of the airlines may or may not have put pressure on Boeing.
Afaic, the fault apportionment was Boeing documentation > airlines >> pilots > Boeing technical design.