Originally Posted by
stimpy
The black box has arrived in France and Boeing has "paused" deliveries of the Max. So all's well on that front.
I read something today that gave me pause. The FAA and Boeing took a great risk with ETOPS 180 and later 240. But they got away with that risk. A whole lot of B777's were sold and many millions of passengers took advantage of lower costs and direct overseas flights. It was innovative and highly successful, but still rather risky. Yet despite that risk that still exists today, we happily fly overseas on B777's, B787's and A330's and A350's. Some of us have flown millions of miles on these twin engine aircraft.
So perhaps that huge success led both Boeing and the FAA to think a little too much of themselves when the MAX design came along. Further that success led the rest of the world to simply follow Boeing and the FAA and accept that the MAX was just fine. Thus we are all guilty. Pretty much the whole world is in a way responsible because the whole world has benefited from risky aviation.
In my opinion, that’s not really accurate. ETOPS rating is based on a nipumber of factors, including a different maintenance schedule, etc. The 777 was nominated and initially approved for ETOPS 180 “out of the box” as long as all ETOPS requirements are met, but the Joint Aviation Authorities (JAA) disagreed and the Boeing 777 was rated ETOPS 120 in Europe upon service entry. The model has proved itself, and Air New Zealand ultimately secured ETOPS 330 for their Rolls-Royce Trent 800 powered 777-200ER powered by engines AKL-EZE. Then,
A350 First To Be Certified For 370min ETOPS. EASA has certified Airbus' new widebody, the A350-900, for extended-range twin engine aircraft operations (ETOPS) of up to 370 minutes. The A350's ETOPS certification is the first to be given beyond 180 minutes for a new aircraft type prior to entering service.
Btw the odd plane I’ve flown in was Aloha 737-200 ETOPS 120, HNL-MDY. See the ETOPS cert on the landing gear door. (Who’d have imagined little Albert would be certified for ETOPS?) Also note the very slim “stovepipe” low bypass engine nacelle compated with, say, the -800 and the MAX 8. When you look at the various accommodations such as pylons and the 6–8 in (150–200 mm) longer nose landing gear for the MAX 8 with the and for the CFM International LEAP-1B engine, you begin to see why Boeing had to deal with an (aircraft) attitude issue (which provides the justification for MCAS as well).
Aloha Boeing 737-200 ETOPS
SmartWings Boeing 737-800 (melhoresdestinos)
Garuda Boeing 737 MAX 8 (Euronews)