Originally Posted by
indigopete
For me it's difficult to see how this doesn't potentially finish off the "Max" IMO.
Increasingly the perception is that It isn't really a software problem, it's a aerodynamics design problem. Apparently those engines don't work with that body, at least not comfortably. Sure it can be sellotaped over with some software fixes/more sensor redundancy, whatever. But it doesn't solve the design issue and nowadays it isn't only regulator certification that has to be overcome, it's "public opinion certification" as well. We're not in the DC-10 era where controversy takes years to eek out into the open but in the age of instant global knowledge - even if that knowledge is incomplete or based on un-authoratitive sources. 1 hull loss can maybe be got away with by saying "we fixed it". But with 2 it's difficult to see how any ongoing controversy doesn't just mean that people won't refuse to get on the thing.
I think Boeing will definitely have to think of a new name for the MAX. B737 Voyager, B737 Discovery?