Re: "a bit more tricky than just software and sensors...."
"a bit more tricky than just software and sensors."
Putting it very politely :) (and politely ignoring the failures of the Boeing board and the associated US approval process, but that's another story for another day).
"a feature of 737 aircraft from the earliest versions ... The trim works by the tailplane being mounted on a pivot so its angle of attack can be altered by a jackscrew which is operated by either a motor or cables connected to a trim wheel in the cockpit. "
Some people like diagrams at times like this. The following article contains definitive info and diagrams:
https://theaircurrent.com/aviation-safety/vestigal-design-issue-clouds-737-max-crash-investigations/ (published 4 April 2019, underlying info goes back decades)
There's even a video of the jackscrew and the pivot and all that stuff, on a 737NG (pre-Max), but the basic principles of the mechanics are largely unchanged in the 737 MAX, they just need to be "augmented" (and also the augmentation system needs to be treated as safety critical in specific parts of the flight envelope):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rxPa9A-k2xY
If folks are unfamiliar with this kind of thing, the video alone is well worth a look. It's a bit trickier than (e.g.) a servomotor moving a print head on a 3D printer.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
