With over a 100 sales in each year, Boeing is one of the leading manufacturer of the aviation industry. Boeing has multiple astonishing airplanes, but the Boeing 737 stands out. Launched on February 10th 1968, the Boeing 737 was a plane which guaranteed an exceptional performance and so it did. But only a couple of years later in 1984 it came across the airbus a320. A plane which would overtake the 737.
DEVELOPMENT OF THE BOEING 737-
During the development stage of the Boeing 737 the engineers noticed that if the engines were to be fitted on the front wings instead of the back wing the planes would be able to outweigh the drawbacks due to the benefits. But since the plane had a lower ground clearance, due to it being a modification of the 727, it would be harder to fit the engines on the front wing. Also the engines Boeing planned on using for the 737 were pratt and whitney low bypass engines these were long and skinny. The engineers meddled with the engines positions and managed to squeeze the engines under the front wing.
A320’S LAUNCH AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE 737-
Multiple different variants got released after the release of the 737. First the 737 classic a re-engine version of the original. Only a few of years later in 1984 did the a320 launch. Instantly Boeing did not see airbus as a threat as it was relatively small at that time. Only after some time when the united and Lufthansa boeings regular customers bought multiple a320s. This urged Boeing to create their third version of the original the 737 next generation. Which offered a redesign of multiple components of the737.
INTRODUCTION OF THE A320NEO–
In 2008 airlines were facing the global financial crisis which was also the time when fuel price was at its peak. Which was not helping airlines gain profits.
Boeing had recently introduced the 787. Suddenly in December 2010 airbus introduced the a320neo which was 15% more fuel efficient than the a320 and was larger. This aircraft was an instant success it received 1400 orders worth $120 billion just after its launch. Soon after American airlines who were very loyal to Boeing had just ordered 130 a320neos. They also announced that they would buy a 100 of Boeings newer 737 after its launch. This committed Boeing to develop the 737 max.
DEVELOPMENT OF THE 737 MAX-
Boeing started of with the development of 737 max. The engineers had the idea of using the Boeing 787 engines which were much more powerful and bigger, but a problem arose. The problem was that 737 could not accommodate the larger engines under its wings. So the engineers fiddled with the position of the engines once again and decided to fit the engines in front of the wing. The engineers discovered that this caused the nose of the aircraft to tilt forward. Which would then cause stall. To prevent the nose to tilt front the engineers came up with an automated system called MCAS ( Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System ).
This system would automatically control the tilt of the nose and help stop stalls.
During the test flight of the 737 max the test pilots noticed that the MCAS significantly altered the planes performance in rare situations. Boeing knew that the MCAS could be a problem. Boeing did not reveal about the MCAS to the public and kept it a secret and it got FAA’s permission without including MCAS. The 737 max had become an attractive alternative for the a320neo
737MAX’ DOWNFALL-
On October 29th 2018 a lion air 737 max flight 610 crashed into the Java sea shortly after take off. Since lion air had a poor safety record there were no changes made to the aircraft. On March 10th 2019 Ethiopian airlines flight 302 crashed in a similar way the lion air did causing the deaths of 157. Boeing quickly blamed the dead pilots of the airline for the crash. The federal aviation administration had failed to keep the 737 max’ safety under check. Evidence was found showing that the FAAs simulations showed that the plane would crash in every 2 to 3 years. After this many regulators had instantly grounded the max after hearing this news. Boeing had intentionally deceived the FAA and its customers and were fined $2.5 billion.