Wolfie00
My dog is an elitist
Premium
join:2005-03-12
| reply to Ian
Re: Emirates A380 Airbus Lands in Toronto For the First Time
Interesting chart -- thanks for posting.
Probably the most direct comparison of Airbus with Boeing is to compare the large population of smaller Airbus models in the A318 to A321 family with the Boeing 737 family. That's quite the tough comparison for Airbus, because the 737 is widely recognized as one of the safest, most robust aircraft ever made.
The result -- from that chart -- is that the Airbus family has a lower accident rate than the 737 "Classic" series -- that is, the "newer" 737 models with efficient turbofan engines -- "Classic" and "NG" together represents almost all 737's flying today*. However, Boeing's "next-generation" (NG) 737's (models 600 and up) have a lower accident rate than the Airbus models. The accident rate for all of them is spectacularly low compared to the world fleet average.
Some of the other conclusions one can draw from that chart:
- passenger jet aircraft have generally been getting safer with newer models
- the two earliest Airbus models had about an average safety record; the majority are way better than the world fleet average
- if any major multi-model manufacturer can be criticized as having a poorer than average record, it would have to be the now-defunct McDonnell Douglas. This is especially so when considering the trouble-plagued DC-10 and its equally defective successor, the MD-11 -- an aircraft with so many flight deck problems that the FAA forced Boeing to redesign the flight software. Ironically, McDonnell Douglas is now part of Boeing!
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* with the exception of the one pollution-belching 737 that was leased from Air Inuit by Stephane Dion's campaign in the last election 
--
"Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity" -- a corollary of Murphy's Law
"A dog is like a child who never grows old ... always there to love and be loved" -- Aaron Katcher
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