re: 737max crashes in Ethiopia. Killing 157

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Foriegn airlines attract the world’s worst pilots

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This plane should have never been built

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So why aren’t these pilots crashing other planes?

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It’s a definite flaw with the design that is exacerbated by unskilled pilots.

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China is forecast to dethrone the U.S. as the world’s biggest aviation market by 2024, according to the International Air Transport Association. That’s made China a vital customer for plane makers Boeing Co. and Airbus SE , and turned the country’s airlines into some of the of biggest in the world in terms of passengers flown and routes served. That growth has also given the country increased leverage over the two big jet makers—and a new level of influence in the global aviation industry.

China’s unilateral decision Monday, following the crash of an Ethiopian Airlines 737 MAX a day earlier, idled more than a quarter of Boeing’s active 737 MAX fleet, used by 13 airlines. The move stunned some experts, who said it was premature without knowing the cause of the Ethiopian crash. In the past, China’s airspace regulator, run by Communist Party officials, has registered barely a blip on the international radar; it has routinely followed guidance from the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration. Its decision Monday made a clear statement to the world that it was flexing its muscles.

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That decisiveness, which coincided with a top leadership meeting in Beijing held against the backdrop of U.S.-China trade talks, may have owed more to the country’s murky domestic politics than aviation safety, some analysts say. After a series of plane crashes in the 1990s China significantly improved its aviation safety record, and the nation’s communist rulers have since exercised extreme caution to reassure its population that they are vigilant, acting fast in the face of any perceived risk.

The Chinese authorities’ readiness to defy international convention and ground the MAX while the cause of the crash was still unknown also showed that China now has the self-confidence to challenge aviation’s established order, said Geoffrey Thomas, chief editor of Airline Ratings.

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It still blows me away that China doesn't manufacture their own planes using stolen Boeing plans

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I have had a number of particularly interesting experiences in China. While there in 1980, I accompanied Boeing sales representative Matt Chen and Wally Buckley, who at the time was general manager of the Everett Division, for a special tour of the Y-10, a Chinese-built copy of the 707. There at Shanghai International Airport was its Asian clone. Almost every part of this amazing jet--from its aluminum skin to its wiring to windshield glass--had been made in China in hopes of jump-starting an indigenous commercial aircraft industry. The Chinese even wanted to build engines for the Y-10 but found that too challenging, so they used Pratt & Whitney JT3Ds purchased as spares for their fleet of U.S.-built 707s.

Matt, Wally, and I walked around the airplane with upwards of 50 Chinese engineers and officials in close attendance. They watched my inspection with supreme interest, clustering around me and looking where I looked at the fuselage, wings, and landing gear. When I announced that the Y-10 looked like a good airplane, they were obviously relieved. I felt like a general conducting a military review.

We boarded the airplane and entered its flight deck, which was laid out almost exactly like that of a real 707. I tried the controls and found I had to use both hands to turn the wheel. The forces were many, many times higher than they should have been. The same was true with fore-and-aft movements of the control column. I explained to them that there was way too much friction in the control system. I told them they would have to fix it before the airplane's first flight, which was imminent. For guidance, I recommended that they match the feel of the Boeing 707 in Chinese service.

They built only two Y-10s, which quietly disappeared after being flight-tested. China's plans for production of a small fleet of Y-10s for domestic use went by the wayside, perhaps because warming relations with the West made U.S. jets available at far lower cost than building their own.

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