Accident by design?

The regulatory framework must look at the integrity of new aircraft designs as well as seemingly innocuous cost savings on assembly lines that may have a multiplier effect on product performance

In 1959, a French passenger plane took the aviation world by storm with its sleek design and rear-mounted twin engines. Passengers flocked to enjoy the novel Caravelle jet service as airlines raced to place orders, abandoning the crash-plagued de Havilland Comet, which had ushered in the passenger jet era in 1952. With the BAC One-Eleven already in the air and the McDonnell Douglas DC-9 inexorably grinding through its design phase, Boeing had decided by 1960 that it urgently needed a short-haul “feeder” jet to complement its mid-range Boeing 707-120. That’s when the B-737 idea sprang to life. 

While late to the