3 ms·

Type certification is a thing that exists, and the whole reason the 737 max is designed in this particular wonky way is so that it can grandfather into the type

by paulmd 3y ago

Type certification is a thing that exists, and the whole reason the 737 max is designed in this particular wonky way is so that it can grandfather into the type certification from the existing 737 family. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Type_certificate https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Type_certificate Having to mix and match pilots across the fleet is less efficient, what if you have a 737 pilot but the only aircraft available is an airbus? So, many airlines (eg southwest) will indeed only use one type, or only a handful of types. This also extends to things like parts availability etc. The economics for switching away work exactly the same now as they did a decade ago when orders were placed: there is a very real cost to operating a mixed fleet and Boeing gets to extract a lot of that value themselves.

philistine 3y ago
> So, many airlines (eg southwest) will indeed only use one type And yet many airlines fly a very high amount of planes of many types, of multiple brands. Southwest is a consumer darling and punches above its weight but it is an outlier.
- dmazzoni 3y ago
  Well, Southwest was a successful well-run regional carrier that grew as large as the big mega-airlines, while trying to keep running the business the same way. There are still 20 smaller regional airlines in the U.S. and hundreds around the world. The vast majority of those fly just one or two types of planes.
- bitcharmer 3y ago
  > And yet many airlines fly a very high amount of planes of many types, of multiple brands That's simply untrue. Most airlines use 2, 3 types of planes at most. I'm not referring to the niche 5 percent of plane types but the overwhelming majority.
nradov 3y ago
Type certificates for commercial airliners should expire after 30 years. After that date, allow any existing aircraft to continue operating but don't allow manufacturing of any new ones. The manufacturer should have to recertify and prove that the design fully complies with all current rules. The original Boeing 737 design only took 4 years so that would give them plenty of time to work through any necessary design changes. And if pilots need to obtain a new type rating then so be it.
- p_l 3y ago
  The type certificate was for pilots

by paulmd 3y ago

philistine 3y ago

> So, many airlines (eg southwest) will indeed only use one type And yet many airlines fly a very high amount of planes of many types, of multiple brands. Southwest is a consumer darling and punches above its weight but it is an outlier.

dmazzoni 3y ago
Well, Southwest was a successful well-run regional carrier that grew as large as the big mega-airlines, while trying to keep running the business the same way. There are still 20 smaller regional airlines in the U.S. and hundreds around the world. The vast majority of those fly just one or two types of planes.
bitcharmer 3y ago
> And yet many airlines fly a very high amount of planes of many types, of multiple brands That's simply untrue. Most airlines use 2, 3 types of planes at most. I'm not referring to the niche 5 percent of plane types but the overwhelming majority.

nradov 3y ago

Type certificates for commercial airliners should expire after 30 years. After that date, allow any existing aircraft to continue operating but don't allow manufacturing of any new ones. The manufacturer should have to recertify and prove that the design fully complies with all current rules. The original Boeing 737 design only took 4 years so that would give them plenty of time to work through any necessary design changes. And if pilots need to obtain a new type rating then so be it.

p_l 3y ago
The type certificate was for pilots