Airbus is a bus with wings

[KukriKhan]

Considering the enormous forces exerted during take-off and landing, it's a wonder commercial jets survive more than 2 or 3 flights. Hence maintenance is key, which I put on the airline operators, not the manufacturers.

Good, fully-funded, fully-staffed maintenance crews = safe flights. Skimp on them = disaster waiting to happen.*

*except for Canadian Geese.

[ICantSpellDawg]

Boeing was started in 1916, Airbus in 1970. I'd hope that, since the dawn of flight the company that has been around since the beggining would have more crashes than the newbie.

Does anyone know about carbon fiber airframes? Do they change their chemical structure when hit by lightning? I'm concerned because all of the new airframes seem to be pursuing this material due to its lowered fuel consumption/lower cost. Is the trade off worth it? It seems that even the dream liner is planning to use carbon rather than titanium.

I was talking to some people and they had suggested that lightning makes carbon frames more brittle and allows them to shatter without warning. Some believe that this had more to do with the Air France/Brazil flight's mid air evaporation than the computer failure did.

I wouldn't be suprised if it comes out that Airbus is getting kickbacks from sea monsters. They won't be satisfied until they've killed us all.

[Meneldil]

Boeing was started in 1916, Airbus in 1970. I'd hope that, since the dawn of flight the company that has been around since the beggining would have more crashes than the newbie.

If you bothered to check the website I linked to, you would have seen that crash before 1970 (1969 precisely) aren't listed.

So, once again. What are your sources? All mines say that both companies have a pretty good safety history, and about as many accidents.

[rory_20_uk]

So, that a company has been around for a long time makes it a better company???

Compare GM or Ford with Toyota or Nissan.

The latter might have been delayed in starting up, but these days the former are desperately playing catchup.

[Meneldil]

Ok, just for the heck of it, I checked Airdisaster.com.

Number of Airbus crashes listed (all models): 33
Number of Boeing crashes listed (only counted after 1970, and only for 377, 707, 727, 737 and 747): 190.

Obviously, this is by no mean representative, since on the first hands, I didn't count 757 and 767, and because on the other hand, Boeing has (had?) much more planes flying. I'm trying to look up for some more statistics, but so far, the whole idea that Boeing is much better than Airbus sounds like mumbo-jumbo.

I could also count the deathtoll on each side (each crash listed has it), but it wouldn't be representative either, as long as we don't know how many people flought in a boeing and in an airbus.

Overall, it seems quite obvious to me that both companies have an excellent record. That's precisely why neither of them bash the other on that aspect. They know they have pretty similar numbers and can't really point the finger without being completely hypocrits.

So yeah, 2 airbus crashed lately. It's not as if it never happened to Boeing (there are several instances of 2 747 crashing and killing all passengers within two months on the website). Rather than trying to push forward your simplistic eco-nationalism, you'd better pray for/respect the memory of the victims.

[Caius]

there are several instances of 2 747 crashing and killing all passengers within two months on the website

But in one month?

[Viking]

But in one month?

Is that bad luck on Airbus' side, or luck on Boeing's side? Tough choice.

[Hosakawa Tito]

I believe it's bad luck on the flying public's side. Circumventing and skimping on maintenance procedures is playing russion roulette with your customers, eventually it's gonna go bang instead of click. All Yemen Airways planes should be boycotted from major airports till they clean up their act.

[Aemilius Paulus]

Boeing was started in 1916, Airbus in 1970. I'd hope that, since the dawn of flight the company that has been around since the beggining would have more crashes than the newbie.

Yeah, and the fact that there are who knows how many times more Boeing planes than Airbus used these days. Boeing has a larger market share than Airbus.

[ICantSpellDawg]

Yeah, and the fact that there are who knows how many times more Boeing planes than Airbus used these days. Boeing has a larger market share than Airbus.

"Had". Either way, I love Boeing. I should own stocks. My dad worked for British, so naturally I'm a lifelong Boeing fan.

[Whacker]

Gotta love kneejerk reactions.

Both Boeing and Airbus do wonderful jobs of designing planes that are safe, sturdy, easy to maintain, and cost effective. Some hard lessons were learned early on in the jet age, the de Havilland Comet comes to mind.

Most all crashes these days are due to two major factors. The first is pilot error. The second is poor maintenance. Flying is very safe, generally speaking. I don't remember the statistics, but one is far, far more likely to be killed or maimed in a car accident than in a flight. The thing about plane crashes are that they are generally far more deadly when it does happen.

It's no big secret. Your life is worth about a million bucks when you step on a plane.

If you want someone or something to direct your ire at, direct it at the airlines. They are the ones who are do all the cost cutting measures. They are the ones who would overwork pilots like crazy if it weren't for the FAA regulating activity. They are the ones who are relatively free to "ignore" manufacturer safety bulletins and whine and piss and moan at the government for "forcing" them to spend money fixing things.