the boeing 737 MAX has not been the only one

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The Boeing 737 MAX It has not been the only new plane that has had problems shortly after starting commercial operations worldwide., we tell you.

Post written by: Captain Rudolph Star
FAA Commercial Pilot
Twitter: @rodo_estrella

They are already more than 6 months since the Boeing 737 MAX stopped flying around the world after the two unfortunate plane accidents caused by the controversial MCAS software and much has been said about the serious reputation problem that the plane will have once the flying ban is lifted.

In a world so connected, It will be very easy for a passenger not to realize that they will fly in a Boeing 737 MAX, so change name, potentially affecting airlines to generate the necessary trust so that their users do not "claim" to fly on this plane.

Despite all the problems that still lie ahead for operators and manufacturers, It is important to review history and remember that the MAX It has not been the only plane that has had reputation problems due to serious and unfortunate accidents. We review his predecessors:

DeHavilland Comet

Introduced in 1949 of the English construction house DeHavilland famous for prestigious fighter aircraft in the Second World War was the pioneer in the introduction of Jet aircraft for commercial service with the ultra-modern and revolutionary DeHavilland Comet.

At a time when flights were made at low altitude and flying in bad weather, long flights were made in airplanes with noisy piston engines and with a lot of vibration, the Comet promised to fly much faster and higher thanks to the innovation of the pressurized cabin..

However, the innovation and prestige acquired suffered severe blows shortly after the aircraft entered service..

• On 1953 the B.O.A.C Comet G-ALYV. disintegrated in flight over Calcutta in India,
• 10 months later another B.O.A.C Comet. The G-ALYP exploded shortly after taking off in Italy.

Day B.O.A.C. Seeing fatal accidents involving two of its new Comets in such a short time, it was forced to ground its fleet, initially suspecting an explosive failure in the engines..

Miraculously, public confidence still remained high in the plane because it was so revolutionary, even Queen Elizabeth II of England flew in the Comet to influence confidence in the plane., but suddenly it happened again. The 8 of April 1954 A third South African Airways Comet disintegrated over the Mediterranean near Stromboli in Italy, now causing all Comet operations worldwide to be halted and the type certificate of airworthiness revoked.

DeHavilland was forced to begin a long and very expensive investigation to determine what was happening to the aircraft., It was determined that the cause of the sudden explosions of the Comets in flight were caused by the continuous pressurizations to which the plane was subjected during its operation..

Given the innovative design, The manufacturer did not know how to assess the metal fatigue caused by continuous pressurization and depressurization processes to which the fuselages were subjected., This is about a classic rectangular window design whose corners were prone to fatigue and breakage..

DeHavilland modified the plane's design by incorporating oval windows to avoid structural fatigue, thickening of the fuselage sheets as well as other additional changes, However, the competitor Boeing that had not yet entered the market with its new Boeing 707 He learned the lessons that DeHavilland suffered and incorporated into his designs everything he learned from the cases..

Para DeHavilland, these serious accidents, as well as the rapid introduction of competing aircraft with greater capacity such as the North American Boeing 707 and the Douglas DC-8, the French Sud Aviation Caravelle and the Soviet Union's Tupolev TU-104 caused their failure with the Comet, while Boeing sold more than 1.000 Boeing B707 and Douglas near 600 DC-8, DeHavilland lost its market dominance by selling only 76 of the redesigned Comet IV.

The public never regained confidence in the company and it did not produce commercial airplanes again., Finally the company was absorbed by Hawker Siddeley.

Lockheed L-188 Electra

Introduced in 1959 as Lockheed's response to the successful first turboprop in the world by the English Vickers Viscount, The Lockheed Electra promised excellent performance, while the world was getting ready for the introduction of powerful and fast jets, The company was betting on economical short and medium range trips with the four-engine Electra.

Very attractive with its huge Alison D501-D13 engines installed in huge nacelles in the wings with 4 giant propellers, even, They reduced the size of the wings when they were exposed to the flow of the propellers and did not require a large surface area..

With a performance, ease of maintenance and backed by the giant Lockheed, The Electra entered service with the main North American companies with great success, There were even cases in which passengers demanded to fly in the Electra over piston airplanes due to its cabin with low noise and no vibration produced by modern turboprops..

Lockheed had a good sales portfolio for its Electra until disaster struck, the 29 September 1959 A Braniff Electra fell on Buffalo-Texas, causing the death of 34 occupants.

An exhaustive investigation was launched, and while this was taking place, a few months later 17 March 1960 another Northwest Orient Airlines Electra disintegrated in the air over Cannelton-Indiana, killing 63 passengers.

After these accidents, the Federal Aviation Agency – FAA, limited the operating speed of the Electra since structural failures were suspected, however, That had a very hard effect on the image of the plane in front of the public, whose reaction was that of fear of flying in a potentially dangerous Electra.

The resulting investigation demonstrated a structural design flaw in the mounting of the engines on the wings., This weak design was not capable of withstanding aerodynamic effects produced by the propellers and which were transmitted to the structure, causing the fatal failure of components in flight..

Desperate to restore public trust, Lockheed launched its LEAP project (Lockheed Electra Achievement Program) in which, at the company's own expense, the aircraft were modified with more robust engine mounting structures as well as certain components of alas.

In an attempt to restore the image and making the public believe that it was a completely redesigned aircraft, Many companies began to call these planes Electra II., similar to what one would consider doing with the Boeing 737 MAX.

Nevertheless, the damage was already done, the public lost confidence in the aircraft as a whole, This in addition to the arrival of new short-range jet aircraft such as the DC-9 relegated the Electra to minor roles in regional airlines in its country of origin..

Even though the plane is still in service after 60 years even in rugged regions and in missions such as firefighting and after having been successful in its version of maritime and anti-submarine patrol in the P-3 Orion, The Electra program was a financial failure for Lockheed, generating around 113 millions of dollars in lawsuits against the company producing only 170 planes, many of whom served successfully, for example in Brazil for 30 years without any serious incident.

DC-10

Introduced in 1971 as competition from Boeing 747, The DC-10 offered the great capacity of a “wide body” with lower fuel consumption by having only three engines., unlike the 4 of the Boeing 747.

Initially loved by the public for its large windows and comfort, The manufacturer McDonnell Douglas had high expectations of demand for its tri-jet model. And in its early years it was the pride and banner of airlines like Continental, United y American.

Nevertheless, Its history was marred by a series of accidents with great human losses, which were widely reported in the press..

On 1979 An American Airlines DC-10 was involved in the worst accident in US history to date., being so serious that the FAA suspended the type certificate of the aircraft, grounding the entire DC-10 fleet in the country for 5 weeks and the DC-10 operating outside the country were prohibited from entering the country.

The investigation revealed problems securing the engines to the wing pylons, causing the engine to detach in the critical takeoff stage, resulting in the death of 271 passengers plus two victims on the ground.

FAA spokespersons at press conferences expressed concerns and feared that the DC-10 would not fly again. The media impact of such a large loss of human life was great..

The airlines relegated the previously highly appreciated aircraft from their advertising and orders for the plane from McDonnell Douglas fell precipitously..

Ultimately. This accident was attributed to a maintenance failure, but the image of the plane as unsafe to the public did not change. This is also because 4 Years before, another Turkish Airlines DC-10 where incorrect fastening of the cargo door caused an explosive depressurization of the plane with loss of cargo and passengers in flight, in addition to the aircraft losing vital parts of flight controls and an engine, causing it to crash with the loss of 346 passengers.

The public even going further, recalled an event similar to Turkish's in Detroit in 1972 where another American Airlines DC-10 had a similar problem with the cargo door that almost caused a serious accident, Miraculously, the crew managed to save the plane despite the damage caused by the door failure.

The seriousness of the matter in these cases, is that the manufacturer knew in advance about the cargo door problems even though the aircraft had not yet entered service., They even had cases of door failure in ground tests.

In administrative moves, the manufacturer managed to free itself from an airworthiness directive for the aircraft that was seen as bad publicity and in which the manufacturer would have been forced to repair and overhaul the affected components in the entire global DC-10 fleet and only a service bulletin was issued that was ignored., even by some companies.

Nevertheless, the demands came to the manufacturer, At that time it suffered the largest lawsuit in history in which the company was accused of errors in the design due to the rush to get the plane into service before competition from the Lockheed L1011 Tristar and also, for criminal negligence in the construction of a defective design, This lawsuit was finally settled with the victims at exorbitant costs, severely affecting McDonnell Douglas..

Even though the DC-10's resume was severely affected, At its time it was considered by the public as a dangerous aircraft and causing a global crisis due to the paralysis of the fleet..

Possibly, in a long career of more than 40 years the DC-10 was never able to regain its prestige, However, it operated the rest of its career until today with a safety index similar to that of other aircraft., and even developing new generations such as the MD-11 that successfully served airlines around the world..

What's coming to Boeing

• In the three cases presented, similarities can be observed with the modern Boeing 737 MAX.
• The public is very affected by the “unsafe” image of the plane
• Boeing desperately tries to correct systems problems
• Airlines like Ryanair, They no longer display the MAX name on their planes.
• Potential civil and criminal lawsuits by victims.
• Reduction and/or stagnation of orders.

This without taking into account the globalization of today's media that did not even experience the Comet, Electra and DC-10 in their days where social networks and the massification of information at a global level make the public know more details of what is happening, causing distrust in the product, This has also translated into an economic impact for Boeing both in its orders and in its listed value on the stock market..

History repeats itself again, although times are different, Will Boeing manage to overcome? Will he be able to save the program 737 in development since 1964?, again only time will tell.

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