Originally Posted by
Old Aero Guy
The data are through 2005. The 737NG hull losses rate still stands at zero. If you have other data, please provide it with a source.
The three I had in mind
Southwest 737 in Dec (Maybe repaired, still 1 death involved)
Air Algérie 736 in March this year
GOL 738 in Sept this year.
Originally Posted by
Old Aero Guy
The hull loss rate for the other airplanes and the 744 are:
A330: 0.00
A340: 0.92
777: 0.00
744: 0.75
Since the A340 rate is worse than the 733/734/735 and the 744 (a non-FBW airplane), while the A330 and 777 rate is the same as the 737NG, there is no satistical basis for saying that FBW is safer.
If you think that FBW is safer, that's fine, but the statistics do not back you up.
By the way, the 748 will not be FBW as its primary flight controls will be similar to the 744.
340 has no deaths with a lower hull loss accident rate than the 744.
The 744 has had 3 hull loss accidents, China Airlines in 1993 in Hong Kong, Korean in 1996 at Seoul both hull losses on landing, no loss of life. Singapore in 2000 at Taipei on takeoff, 83 dead.
Only one 340 hull loss in service, the Air France landing at Toronto, no loss of life.
Two other 340 hull losses events maybe on the database you are looking at, one was during maintenance when a hydraulic pump overheated, the other on the tarmac in Colombo in a terrorist attack. Neither during operation, neither a hull loss accident.
Thanks for the 748 info, when did they go back to conventional controls on that design ? Last update I read had wind tunnel testing being done to establish the FBW control systems.