It is interesting to see how concerned a certain selection of people are about flying on the Boeing 737 MAX. Clearly some are more jittery than others, what with the highly publicised accidents and subsequent grounding of the fleet.
While that may be the case, I think going to such lengths as avoiding flying on the aircraft are an overreaction. There are literally zero reasons to worry about getting a 737 MAX on your next flight.
Why Is The Boeing 737 MAX Safe?
There’s an old chestnut around that the best time to fly an airline or a particular type of aircraft is straight after an accident. Statistically speaking, the chances of it happening again are extremely remote.
Flying continues to be one of the safest methods of transport and you are far more likely to have a car accident than be involved in a plane crash. Even so, hyped up media coverage of aviation incidents means some people feel less safe in the sky than they should.
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- You’ll know a 737 MAX by it’s split tip winglets.
When it comes to the Boeing 737 MAX, it has been through some exceptionally thorough scrutiny during its grounding. The main aviation authorities around the world have given input around the changes that had to be made, Boeing did what they needed to do, tested it and it’s been signed off.
Airlines would not fly unsafe planes and pilots and cabin crew would not operate them. After the lengthy grounding and having been put under the microscope, the Boeing 737 MAX is arguably the safest plane in the sky right now.
Groundings Have Happened Before
A number of aircraft have been grounded throughout history and have subsequently returned to service. People will remember that the Douglas DC-10 was grounded for five weeks in 1979 following an accident in Chicago. It continued in airline fleets for many years after this.
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- The Douglas DC-10 was popular among the world’s airlines in the 1970s and 1980s.
More recently, the supersonic Concorde was withdrawn from service after an accident in Paris in July 2000, returning to service well over a year later from November 2001. Modifications were incorporated into the aircraft to prevent another similar disaster from occurring, and of course it didn’t.
Overall Thoughts
The take away from this is that the Boeing 737 MAX is just as safe as any other airliner out there. Accidents happen and the aviation industry vigorously applies any lessons learned industry wide.
Since so many airlines have ordered the MAX, it is likely you and I will be scheduled to fly on one sooner rather than later. If so, don’t worry, just enjoy your flight. I know I will.
Are you concerned about flying on a Boeing 737 MAX? Would seeing one scheduled to operate your flight actually put you off and make you change it? Or is it all a storm in a teacup? Thank you for reading and if you have any comments or questions, please leave them below.
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Featured image by Steve Lynes via Wikimedia Commons.
Wingtips shot by Oleg V. Belyakov on Spotters.Aero via Wikimedia Commons.
Finnair Douglas DC-10 by Finnair via Airliners.net.
Still gonna give it a year or two, if possible, for things to continue without incident. Worried I’ll end up unknowingly on one, but that is pretty remote, given how meticulous I am about researching the equipment I’ll be flying on.
True, it’s easy enough to avoid!
Would happily fly it
Me too!
You obviously never took a university class in aeronautical engineering. This “frankenstein” of a plane has basic aerodynamic flaws that software “fixes” cannot reliably overcome. Add to that fact, this past week’s grounding of the Max due to wiring flaws, this engineer ain’t flying this plane. Anyone should be terrified flying this thing.
I certainly haven’t done aeronautical engineering. As far as I’m aware, the “wiring flaws” come down to some kind of paint in a drill hole on certain aircraft, a human error that is being corrected. Basically some guy made a minor error, but of course it’s the MAX so…
I’m not afraid. I’m terrified.
Sorry to hear that, but fair!
Why are we discussing this the bird is back in the air, flying as advertised for some countries some real pilot training. For those who say “I’ll never fly a Max ever” great leaves us more seats to select from! I think shortsighted and frankly lacking knowledgable base to arrive at that conclusion but then . If the flying public really knew who much flight is made possible from computer programs they would be surprised. Oh well, ignorance is blissful.
I know, the whole reason I wrote this is because I had seen people commenting online, recently, that they would continue to try to avoid the MAX for a bit. On frequent flyer forms, no less, which are people who travel a lot and should therefore be the most knowledgeable and least reluctant, considering the re-certification. So strange! As you can see from the comments here, quite a lot of people seem concerned about the aircraft still, which is a little unexpected. I’m with you though on this one!
I’m never flying on the MAX again. I have no safety concerns, in fact I bet it’s the safest bird in the sky now considering the amount of care and attention that has gone into its recertification. But I won’t ever forgive the series of criminally negligent behavior that gave birth to this aircraft. I hope enough people refuse to fly the MAX and make airlines think twice before ordering more of these planes. Doubt it though.
I can understand your feelings on that, and to be quite fair, the accidents should never have occurred, had the various factors not come into play. With regards to sales, who knows what will happen now in the post-COVID world. Thanks for the comment!
The DC-10 was grounded for 5 weeks – the MAX was grounded for a year and a half and now there is a new issue grounding many of them. As far as I know, they didn’t do maintenance to move the wings so the center of gravity would be better during the grounding. I’m not saying that I will never fly on the equipment if it is the only choice – but I will avoid them as much as possible..
True, the DC-10 grounding was far less, but the MAX was not much more than Concorde. Clearly the issues differ in complexity, but the point I am making is that the aircraft would not be certified for service again if any of the regulators didn’t think so. While it should never have happened in the first place, things have been corrected and I have total faith in the aircraft. I can totally understand your feelings though, to try to avoid the plane as much as possible. You won’t be alone in that! Thanks for the comment.
I still have some engineering class notes from a lecture called the 21 engineering reasons why one should never fly a McDonnell Douglas airliner. Most all of the reasons were tragic accident related. Boeing is now run by the MD management types. ‘nuf said.
That paperwork would be interesting to see, as I assume it would have some items about the MD-11 on it, judging from what I hear around the place. Sounds interesting!
Sadly, some of the design flaws mentioned in his lecture resulted in tragic deaths. Specifically, some of them were; a) The tail jackscrew design on the MD-80 (Alaska), b) The door latching mechanism on the DC-10 (Turkish) vs. other’s approaches (e.g. doors bigger than the openings, sealed by the pressurization), and c) Only 2 hydraulic systems that came together at a single point (of failure) near the tail, where other mfrs had 3 independently laid out hydraulic systems (United). All of these were in a lecture before the corresponding accidents. Now that Boeing is run by former MD managers, I’ll… Read more »
Yes, they all all quite well documented indeed. There were certainly an array of things that only came to light due to the accidents, which is unfortunate.
I rather not be a guinea pig for Boeing until maybe some yrs have passed and, if no accidents have occurred, I may then fly it if I have no choice. As a rule, I try to stay away from 737s as they are very uncomfortable. Airbus aircraft are more comfortable and spacious at seats, aisles and especially lavatories. Boeing killed about 300 persons and no one is in jail. You or I kill 1 and we would not have the same fate. I prefer others try it out and hopefully help Boeing improve the aircraft’s safety record. They are… Read more »
I completely respect your opinion, of course, though it does disagree with mine. I am sure others think the same way you do. Yes, I am sure the families of the second accident disagree with the odds, as do the families of those involved in the shootdown on the Malaysia Airlines flight – I was thinking of both of those outliers while writing the article. Thanks for sharing your thoughts, I appreciate it!
Not afraid here either. I have no fear stepping on a thin tube hurtling through the skies at 500+ miles per hour. Always a risk of course but lower than driving 2 miles to the grocery store. And way more fun, as well.
Hahaha! I’m with you on that – far more fun indeed!