Speaking of short memories, does anyone remember the rudder hardover events on the older generations of the 737? There were two fatal accidents with that as the main factor, one with a -200 and another one with a -300. But did they stop anyone from flying it? Did they stop it from still holding the title of the most largely produced transport aircraft, even now, many years later? Have many people gotten cold feet over the thought of travelling on a 737-300? Absolutely not. It's true that these days information circulates with greater ease than back then, but the average traveller remains just as uninterested in the technicalities of whatever aircraft will be operating their flight.

GlobalNav

Actually ValueJet, call-sign "Critter" did not go out of biz... They bought a small MCO based airline called AirTran and re-branded themselves as such... Grew and were bought by Southwest... Re-branding does work because Americans have very short memories... 10 yen for what it's worth...

Cheers

Herod

I agree. Sometime machanical faults can creep in despite the best efforts of the employees. What does not fly(no pun intended) was the arrogance of Boeing in addressing the problems. muilenberg was too long in the job.

jpn crj driver

Right-o and my intended point was that "I" don't forget, but of course the general public, without help from the media, does. In fact, IIRC, Airtrans itself had issues. SWA does not have a spotless record either.