Originally Posted by
Cows getting bigger
The 737 first flew 9 days after I was born so, at 52 years old, I'm rather pleased I fall on the right side of the line. However, my wife would probably agree with your 'children' sentiment.
Sometimes here we forget that the 737 basic design is actually 1950s since it’s a 707 with two engines missing. When I transferred from 707 to 737 you could nearly have done a differences course! Ok no flight engineer but systems almost the same including the STAB TRIM which is unchanged in basic concept for 60+
now. The 707 had no hydraulic controls except rudder boost and even that was not needed. We had no proper simulator so a lot of training was done on a real plane including stab runaway/ emergency descent from high level and engine failures.
So, when the Max returns to the skies and
ends up with a life of several decades, it will be a century old design with a few electronic add ons when it finally retires.
Y