“In normal flight the wings don’t need to be as large as they need to be during takeoff and landing.”
Yeah that is why we have flaps. Don’t quit your day job.
It is more to do with larger engines and the desire but Boeing and Airlines to not retrain pilots. This post is one of the best explanations I have seen so far.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3734243/posts?page=32#32
“Yeah that is why we have flaps. Don’t quit your day job.”
I mentioned flaps in my post. I think comparing the 737 MAX’s wings with the older 737’s wings, flaps or no flaps, the 737 MAX’s wings are smaller.
A quote from the article you reference: “The fact that this airplane requires such jury rigging to fly is a red flag”
I wonder how the engines-off rate of descent of the two planes compare. I’ll bet the MAX drops like a rock.
After all’s said and done Boeing ends up with a huge PR problem. It’s a trickier plane to fly. The automation solution might make flying it even more tricky. Training probably is a cure.
Final result: we’ll get an even better MAX and Boeing will lose a few billion dollars.