Of course the media and general public will only focus on the fact that it is a Boeing and a 737, and not MX practices with the airline.

Rug Rat (Brent Hendricks)
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Of course the media and general public will only focus on the fact that
it is a Boeing and a 737, and not MX practices with the airline.

Boeing has been heavily criticised because they keep on adding things to the 737-concept to increase payload and range but there is a limit, and they have been pushing that limit for a while rather than diving into a broad new design on a white sheet of paper.

The market is shifting towards XLR-type single-aisle airplanes which is a gap in the market Boeing has no plane for. AerLingus for example is doing Dublin-DC in an A320LR, Iberia is doing Madrid-Boston in an A321XLR, AirCanada is doing Halifax-Heathrow in a standard A319 ... You will not see a 737 on such intercontinental services.

Naw the 757 ... "that" was samething. Always a smooth ride across the Atlantic ...

\%/@rd

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Boeing has been heavily criticised because they keep on adding things to the 737-concept to increase payload and range but there is a limit, and they have been pushing that limit for a while rather than diving into a broad new design on a white sheet of paper.

That may be the case, but the issue itself may not be Boeings responsibility. The 739-ER entered service in 2007. Depending on when Delta took possesion the aircract may have already been through 1 D check.

If there had been any other issues requiring the flap assembly to be worked on.

How was it maintained the airlines from delivery to issue?

The 737NG has been a reliable airframe.

Though the MAX and the issue with the door plug have tainted the entire 737 line. Simmilar to the American DC10 crash in Chicago. The issue stemmed from impropper MX procedures that MD had on record of discouraging.



Rug Rat (Brent Hendricks)
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Brent,

That may be the case, but the issue itself may not be Boeings responsibility. The 739-ER entered service in 2007. Depending on when Delta took possesion the aircract may have already been through 1 D
check.

As it is a workhorse, this may entirely be the case.

How was it maintained the airlines from delivery to issue?

Also correct and I wish to add that as far as I understand, there are no strategic nor structural outstanding issues with Delta's maintenance procedures.

Though the MAX and the issue with the door plug have tainted the entire
737 line. Simmilar to the American DC10 crash in Chicago. The issue stemmed from impropper MX procedures that MD had on record of
discouraging.

Also correct, but in the case of the 737 there has been more than one red flag in past years.

As for the DC10, I've flown several DC10's ever since the very early 70-ties and never felt unsafe in them. Though here it's not just the Chicago crash of 1979. There had already been the Turkish Airlines DC10 in Ermenonville which preceded it and then followed the same year by the Air New Zealand crash at Mt. Erebus and the WesternAirlines crash at Mexico City landing at a closed runway. Bad luck because the Erebus and Mexico City crashes also were not technical but happened too close to eachother prompting the flight ban.

I think it was a reliable aircraft.

\%/@rd

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On Tue 8-Jul-2025 6:20p, Ward Dossche@2:292/854.0 said to Rug Rat:

As for the DC10, I've flown several DC10's ever since the very early 70-ties and never felt unsafe in them. Though here it's not just the Chicago crash of 1979. There had already been the Turkish Airlines DC10 in Ermenonville which preceded it and then followed the same year by the Air New Zealand crash at Mt. Erebus and the WesternAirlines crash at Mexico City landing at a closed runway. Bad luck because the Erebus and Mexico City crashes also were not technical but happened too close to eachother prompting the flight ban.

I think it was a reliable aircraft.

\%/@rd

Oh, trust me! I was not jumping on the DC10 being a bad frame/design. It had teething issues (Cargo door), though the 747 also had issues with their cargo door latches (UAL 811). I was making a comparison between the rush to blame everything on an airframe vs something that was caused by something outside of Boeings control (MX, or engines.).

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On Wed 9-Jul-2025 9:04a, Mike Powell@1:2320/105.0 said to Ward Dossche:

Erebus and the WesternAirlines crash at Mexico City landing at a closed

unway

Bad luck because the Erebus and Mexico City crashes also were not

technical

I know of the Mexico City crash, the ATC tapes make for chilly listening. I would not think those were part of the reason for the DC10 grounding, as they were pretty obviously due to pilot error.

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