Boeing 747

[Paul Adsett]

You really have to wonder what changed at Boeing for the Company to transition from the brilliant engineering triumph of the 747 to the crappy engineering debacle of the present 737 max.
(The 737 max, unlike the existing 737, is inherently aerodynamically unstable, it relies on the computer system to keep it in level and stable flight. If the computer goes out, for any reason, no pilot can control the plane, it is doomed.)

[Maurice Leakey]

Paul
Budget airline, Ryanair, has 210 of these planes on order.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-r...-idUSKBN26N2AO


Maurice

[Paul Adsett]

Hi Maurice, a lot of the orders for the 737max are being cancelled. There is still no word when or if this plane will resume service. Rumor is there are some additional serious design flaws separate from the MCAS computer system which compensates for the aircrafts aerodynamic instability. All this cost to Boeing's reputation and finances simply because they were too cheap to design a totally new aircraft to compete with Airbus, and tried to stretch the existing excellent 737 beyond its basic design capabilities. Well now Boeing knows the true cost of that ' too clever' engineering blunder, which would never have happened in the company culture of the 747 design period.
One thing I do know - I will not be flying one for the first couple of years, and I suspect a lot of the flying public feel the same way.

[Brian DiGiorgio]

The 747 is my favorite aircraft. When I was a little kid my dads job transferred us from Los Angeles to Milan Italy. We flew there on a 747 (Alitalia, I think!). The stewardess took my brother and I up to the upper deck, where folks were having drinks at the bar, and there was a baby grand piano sitting there, which unfortunately no one was playing. I can't imagine any airline having the luxury (or bad business sense) to devote the upper deck to a piano bar these days!

[Graham Ritchie]

By the way there is a book written by one of the passengers that was on BA009 called "All Four Engines Have Failed" its quite a story of the remarkable flight crew who were put in this dire situation, but of the damage 747 took, and also for the Rolls Royce RB211 engines.

The book is well worth a read

[Graham Ritchie]

From the "San Diego Air and Space Museum", Pan Am Boeing 747 emergency landing at SFO July 30th 1971.

[Isidro Costantini]

The concorde was grounded because of it's high operation cost, not because of the accident. It's still is one of the safest planes ever made, and the accident was caused by debris on the runway from previous takeoff, not by the concorde itself.

[Graham Ritchie]

I remember this story being aired years ago, Its also a remarkable and tragic story of the family of one of the victims of this disaster in there quest to find out what caused this disaster. Without doubt in my mind, what the family discovered in there search, would prevent this happening again on other 747 aircraft of that era. I should add that the photo shown here is reversed, as it was the starboard "right side" that the door blew out.

It does show that a Boeing design flaw of the door latch that the family discovered from day one of the introduction of the 747 contributed much to this disaster.