Should I avoid 737 MAX?

Is it safe now? By endorsement of the FAA, Boeing and its pilots, the 737 MAX has been determined as safe to fly. But safe pilots fly planes safely and part of being a safe pilot is being well-trained and well-informed as to the full functionality of an aircraft's systems.



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Fear not, weary traveler—the now infamous Boeing 737 MAX has been cleared for takeoff. The intense scrutiny the aircraft has faced and the updates it has received as a result of investigations following two fatal crashes will undoubtedly make the MAX safer to fly than ever before.

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Despite the FlyersRights concerns, the FAA, Boeing and many pilots deem the 737 MAX safe to fly and many airlines have the plane in service. “I can say categorically that the 737 MAX product is safe,” then-acting FAA administrator Bill Nolen told members of the US Senate Commerce Committee in March.

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An FAA official said the analysis suggested that there was a 25% chance of an accident in 60 days if no changes were made to the planes.

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On an American Airlines Boeing 737-800, for example, the seat-rating site SeatGuru warns of several “bad” seats, denoted in red. They include all the seats in row 30, at the back of the aircraft. The reasons are obvious: Like Conway's, the seats in row 30 are next to lavatories and don't fully recline.

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According to a 2015 study, seats in the middle of the cabin had the highest fatality rate at 39 per cent, followed by a 38 per cent fatality rate in the front. Seats at the back of the cabin had the lowest fatality rate at 32 per cent.

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Boeing has told a US court it was not guilty of concealing information about flight control systems on its 737 Max aircraft, which led to two crashes, killing 346 people. Flaws in the systems were found to have led to the accidents, but Boeing avoided a trial by agreeing to pay $2.5bn (£1.8bn).

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Eight days later Boeing issued a bulletin to all 737 MAX 8 and 737 MAX 9 operators stating that “erroneous angle-of-attack data” could result in “uncommanded nose-down movement of the aircraft and that this action can repeat until the related system is deactivated.” The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) followed ...

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The FAA ultimately grounded the MAX on March 13, 2019 and lifted the flight prohibition order in November 2020 after Boeing made a series of software upgrades and training changes.

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Is it safe now? By endorsement of the FAA, Boeing and its pilots, the 737 MAX has been determined as safe to fly. But safe pilots fly planes safely and part of being a safe pilot is being well-trained and well-informed as to the full functionality of an aircraft's systems.

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Southwest Airlines continues to monitor information from Boeing and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on the impending 737 MAX software enhancements and training requirements. We remain confident that, once certified by the FAA, the enhancements will support the safe operation of the MAX.

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The move away from the MAX name has been a subtle process and Boeing has begun to use the name 737 MAX and 737-8(7 through 10) interchangeably. This way they are transitioning away from the MAX name toward the normal naming convention of modern Boeing aircraft.

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What Are the Worst Seats on a Plane?
  • The dreaded middle seat is our pick for the worst seat on a plane. ...
  • Seats towards the back of the plane tend to experience more turbulence than those towards the front. ...
  • An aisle seat located near a bathroom is one of the worst seats on the plane.


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Are small planes less safe than larger? It might seem that way, but there are other contributing factors. In a nutshell, the size of an airplane is not in any way linked to safety, explains Saj Ahmad, chief analyst at StretegivAero Research.

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Therefore, the ERJ135/140/145 members of the family are among the safest airliners in history. The Airbus A340 is also one of the safest, with no fatal accidents involving any of the 380 units since its introduction in March 1993.

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The next largest variant of the Boeing 737 MAX series is the popular MAX 8, which clocks in at 39.47 meters (129 feet and 6 inches) long.

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However, particularly high praise should be given to older aircraft, such as Boeing's 737-600 and 737-900 models, that have never had a hull loss, despite having been in service since the turn of the century.

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