#IfYouReadOneThingToday - On the 737

Patrick Smith is a commercial airline pilot who also happens to be a tremendously gifted writer. I've followed him on his site, Ask the Pilot, for years, and recommend him to anyone with even a passing interest in aviation. If you're the kind of person who thinks airports are the neatest places on Planet Earth, you'll enjoy his work.

This piece is from 2019 - the Before Times, apparently - so it's been around a while. But I re-read it this week and thought it would be worth sharing here as part of our ongoing #IfYouReadOneThingToday series.

Long story short, he looks at the Boeing 737 MAX saga through a specifically historical lens, and explains the market-driven forces that ended up with Boeing deciding to stretch its venerable 737 just a little further rather than come up with a new clean-sheet design.

If you've been following the MAX story, this is a must-read. Then again, we should all read it, because it casts light on the factors behind what planes get developed, and how.

The Airplane That Isn't: Boeing bet the future on a 50 year-old design. Did it lose?

By Patrick Smith

Ask the Pilot

December 16, 2019