Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)This book is a decent introduction to the early model B-737, and is superior to the companion book on the B-737-300 to B-737-800 by Robbie Shaw. The book focuses on general history, operators, and color schemes (and contains numerous excellent color photographs), with a few rudimentary technical notes thrown in. There is also an excellent production list, and a very brief summary of accidents. Potential readers should note that although the book was up to date when published, it is through no fault of the authors, decidedly not current now due to rapid post-9/11 fleet plan changes at many of the airlines listed as operators.
The technical portions of the book are generally accurate, though several errors are present. There is also an interesting tidbit in a section titled "In Service" in which a Captain Jack Brown makes assertions about the B-737 versus DC-9 that I find highly questionable. I have flown the B-737 with a major US airline, and have also flown the DC-9, although I am not sure if Brown has. To say the least, I find his statements comparing the B-737 to the DC-9 less than complete, particularly his claim that the B-737 outperforms the DC-9, on among other things, fuel consumption. (I don't for a second believe that, and if he has the Specific Fuel Consumption data on equal Airspeed/Mach profiles to back up his claim, I would surely like to see it. At any rate, for full disclosure, I flew the B-737-200 for two years and considered it to be unquestionably the worst commercial aircraft I have ever flown.) Captain Brown also dismisses the problem of rudder hardover lightly, although in fairness, at the time of writing the NTSB had not issued the final reports on US 427 and UA 535. I don't take the rudder hardover issue lightly at all. I am grateful that all B-737 aircraft are now being modified as the result of an Airworthiness Directive, although the FAA gave Boeing and operators a very generous time frame to make the modifications. I suffer no illusions that the only problem with the rudder is in the yaw damper, and to their credit the authors do discuss the significance of problems in the B-737 Power Control Unit (PCU), which is a major point of journalistic fairness in favor of the book, as it predates the final NTSB rulings in question.
The section on accidents is a study in brevity, but there is quite a bit of detail on two accidents, the British Airtours engine explosion, which is generally well covered, and the Air Florida accident, which contains several errors, including uncorroborated, unknowable assertions about crew attitudes, lack of understanding of routine NTSB investigation protocols, and strangely, an apparent misunderstanding of how Engine Anti-Ice works on the B-737 (and almost all other jet aircraft.) The book alleges that a heated fluid is circulated around "the air intake and induction areas, and the PTT [sic] probes." In reality, hot air (from the engine's 8th and 13th compressor stages) is directed into the engine cowling, bullet nose, and guide vanes through three valves to warm the area including the PT2 probe in the bullet nose assembly. (For you technical purists, there is a small amount of area continuously anti-iced by the circulation of warm engine oil which flows through the inlet guide vane at the six o'clock position. This oil goes to lubricate engine parts mounted under the bullet nose. This detail is really not germane to the accident.) My point here is that people who want technical information on the B-737 should look elsewhere. Hobbyists, people less interested in technical data, and people interested in operators, color schemes, and history of the early B-737 should enjoy this book.
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In 1964 the Boeing company undertook initial design studies for a short-haul jetliner. In so doing it laid the foundations for a family of aircraft that has become the most commercially successful in the history of civil air transportation. This colorful volume delivers 737 evolution, design and production history, technical specs, in-service details, airline operators, accident and incident coverage.
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