"The final stage of testing, development and proving can only be done in service."
Yes, and I wonder what John Farley thinks of this comment, from one of our pundit's
posts on another thread (guess which!):
"...real pilots know not to fly the "A" model of anything."
Hi
barit1,
I think you're right, without remembering (and too idle to research right now) the details. But, generally speaking, would it be fair to say that those accidents were less about sophisticated systems and more about the relatively new flight envelope that those airliners were operating in, the engines and the aerodynamics? The 707/720 and DC8 cruised at higher Mach than the earlier, ill-fated Comet 1, which had failed to sell in the US. The 727 was a hot ship with a T-tail. Flight crews were unaccustomed to the environment, and - unless ex-military - had no experience of the different flight characteristics associated with jet engines.
Current types fly no faster or higher than those did (sad to say). Think of the CV990...