
Pilot: We need to find out much more about why two Boeing planes crashed - Ultramanoid
https://edition.cnn.com/2019/03/11/opinions/ethiopian-airlines-crash-737-max-abend/index.html
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nobrains
The article says "Both airplanes are Boeing's latest offering, the 737-800
MAX".

That is incorrect. Both planes were "Boeing 737 MAX 8".

There is no "737-800 MAX".

There is a plane named "Boeing 737-800" and that was the older version of
"Boeing 737 MAX 8".

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Ultramanoid
Yes, indeed. The author is a decades-long 777 captain, and I doubt the mistake
is his. Probably some unfortunate edit by CNN.

~~~
dingaling
Well frankly many pilots struggle to distinguish an A320 from a 737-anything
so I wouldn't expect variant-level accuracy from a Captain.

But your comment raises the question of why the Max could be grandfathered in
on the same 50-year-old certificate as the 737 NG, Classic and 'cigar-tube'
variants when there are such major differences between all of them. For
example the NG was rewinged and could fly at 41,000ft which was far above the
ceiling of earlier variants, but with a cockpit options pack could be flown by
pilots with the old rating.

The root reason is to make certification cheaper and quicker and to sell more
aeroplanes. I think that is a major error by the regulators who should be
concentrating on safety and technical excellence, not facilitating commercial
sales. Perhaps certification should be moved to the ICAO level instead of
national regulators who have national interests?

~~~
Ultramanoid
> _Well frankly many pilots struggle to distinguish an A320 from a 737-800 so
> I wouldn 't expect variant-level accuracy from a Captain._

Really ? I would for sure. I am no aviation expert by any means, but something
as basic as telling Boeing or Airbus apart and many if not all variants (
certainly within your usual involvement with the industry ) I would think is
common knowledge for anyone actually involved in flying, particularly pilots.

> _But your comment raises the question of why the Max could be grandfathered
> in on the same 50-year-old certificate as the 737 NG..._

I assume you've seen the comments regarding this on the main thread about this
whole thing... [1] I do agree with your point of view on this, absolutely.

[1]
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19356138](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19356138)

