Ask an Aircraft Mechanic anything

155 Questions

Last Answer on July 09, 2022

Why are not Air Marshals considered flight crew?!

Asked by Alan over 4 years ago

I don’t know? Because they’re federal employees?

Let’s try to keep the questions on topic.

Good evening, what do you think about mandatory masks on aircraft?!

Asked by Martha over 4 years ago

Mandatory masks on passenger planes are a GOOD thing.

Even when there is no scary pandemic, passenger planes are a good place to get sick.

So yeah. Wear a mask, people. Wash your hands. Don’t touch your face.

437 Votes

So you wanna be an Aircraft Mechanic?

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What are the flashing lights for and do they have to be certain colors in certain places?

Asked by Kayla over 4 years ago

You are going to have to be a lot more specific than that.

436 Votes

What went wrong with the 737 planes that where dropping like flies?

Asked by Johnson over 4 years ago

If you are referring to the 737 Max aircraft, I think better experts than me have written extensively about the issue.

A quick synopsis, I suppose, would be that Boeing wanted to upgrade the 737 series to a certain level of performance and efficiency, which required re-engining the aircraft, among other things.

Then several “needs” of the program started colliding.

In order to make the new model more appealing to airlines, Boeing promised that no new flight training would be needed for the crews.

Then the new engine just wouldn’t fit in the same profile space as the old engine. So the pylon has to be redesigned. Which put the engine a little forward and higher than the old one. This changed the c/g of the aircraft slightly, and placed the thrust point a little different.

This made the aircraft handle a little differently. But in order to make good on their promise to the airlines, Boeing had to make the plane handle exactly like the old one. Which now required complicated systems to compensate for the design changes.

Cap that off with the FAA handing off the engineering design and test approvals to internal Boeing designers, and you have effectively no oversight of the program.

Now the planes get out into the hands of the commercial operations, and the systems don’t work exactly right, or a sensor has failure issues; and these pilots who are expecting to treat the new plane just like the old one, have problems.

Basically, the new system had to compensate for a tendency for the new plane to go “nose up” under heavy thrust, causing a stall condition. But the system often corrected too aggressively, causing the plane to lose altitude and pitch nose down.

And you know the result. Two of the flight crews were unable to override that automatic system in time to avoid a crash.

It’s sad. Especially because it was avoidable.

428 Votes

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Why are commercial airlines with three engines very rare if they even are around at all? Their only in private and cargo for the most part.

Asked by Jim about 5 years ago

Tri-jets were a solution for safety. For a time when four engines were too much, and not needed. But two weren’t enough, for either thrust needs, or safety.

ETOPS effectively put an end to the three engine aircraft.

There is a lot of history to the topic. I encourage you to research it. It is interesting.

418 Votes

What do you think about a future Boeing 797? What will Boeing do after the 797 (or if seven are nine like most companies do skip that) what would be the next? 7070???

Asked by Dianna over 4 years ago

I don’t have any inside knowledge to share about Boeing’s future models.

But despite being a Boeing super fan; I am rather pessimistic regarding their future. I think they are being too conservative.

The cancelled Sonic Cruiser project was a disappointment to me. As I saw that as a risk worth taking.

I’ve been following their research into blended wing bodies (BWB). But that’s been in R&D for long time. And Airbus is looking into it now too, and I see it more likely that they will do it before Boeing does.

So, in my opinion: Expect the next ‘big deal’ from Boeing to be an evolutionary design of some kind. A narrow or wide body twin engine; with more composites, computer controls, maybe a different wing design, and better engines.

I am curious to see when the big push to get rid of the copilot comes. There has been talk of single seat cockpits for years, as the autopilot and other systems have gotten better. Airlines would love to pay less for flight deck crews.

412 Votes