Even the UKs Royal Air Force is to put them into serviceas the P8a Poseidon.
An airplane which flies that much will have accidents.
But statistically, this nonetheless is a very safe airplane.
By comparison, the British annual average for road traffic fatalitiesis 13 per million inhabitants.
Evolution
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The first model the 737-100 arrived in 1967, while the 737 MAX series entered service in 2016.
So far, nearly 400 of the MAX aircraft have been delivered and over 5,000 ordered.
One of the earliest models, a Boeing 737-200, when it was in service with Ryanair.
So while all 737s arecertified as a single airplane throw in, the changes have been massive.
Most recently, the big push has been to reduce fuel consumption.
To generate lift, this is typically around two degrees in cruising flight.
If the angle of attack is too great, the airplane loses control or stalls.
This has nothing to do with stalling an engine and will usually cause a sudden descent.
Boeing addressed this by introducing an automated system calledManoeuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS).
This automatically forces the nose down from high angles of attack, removing the airplane from the stall condition.
It does this by rotating the tailplane, effectively changing the shape of the airplane.
This was necessary stalling under these circumstances has been a serious, even fatal, problem in someprevious airliners.
So far so good.
While this aircraft had the MCAS system,the pilots allegedly didnt know about it.
All pilots train to recognize and deal with a wide range of instrument and equipment failures.
But pilots can best deal with failures theyve been trained for.
What next?
The FAA has grounded their 35 737 MAX airplanes.
Guy Brian Gratton
These events show the aviation industry at both its best, and worst.
Its right that manufacturers and airlines should be seeking more efficient, safer aircraft.
But making progress at an acceptable cost could potentially risk corners being cut.
After these two tragedies there will likely be a number of court cases.
The families will rightly want closure.
Focusing too much on legal outcomes couldpotentially prevent the best safety outcomes from being pursued.
This article is republished fromThe ConversationbyGuy Gratton, Visiting professor,Cranfield Universityunder a Creative Commons license.
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