Boeing 737 is a short to medium-range twinjet narrow-body airliner. It is mainly used for short to medium-haul destinations by Malaysia Airlines and many other airlines in the world.
In Malaysia, the Boeing 737 is prominently used by the Malaysia Airlines.
Development
Development of Boeing 737 has started as early as May 11th 1964. Although more than 50 years have passed already, Boeing still produces Boeing 737, albeit in newer variants.
Design
Boeing 737s are not equipped with fuel dump systems. Therefore, on emergency, they need to continuously fly in circles to avoid excessive landing weight, or just land overweight.
Cockpit and Avionics
In the event of total hydraulic system failure or double engine failure, pilot will manually control the aircraft by servo tab.
Engine
Due to low ground clearance of Boeing 737s, they do not have circular inlets on their engines. Instead, Boeing together with the engine supplier, CFMI came with new non-circular “hamster pouch” inlet.
Because of the same reason too, Boeing 737s are more prone to engine foreign object damage (FOD).
Wings
There are four winglet types of Boeing 737:
- 737-200 Mini-winglet
- 737 Classic/NG Blended Winglet
- 737 Split Scimitar Winglet
- 737 Max Advanced Technology Winglet
Certification
Boeing 737-100 received certification (Type Certificate A16WE) by Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for commercial flight.
Seating Capacity
Maximum seating for the first generation (737-100) is 124 while 737 Next Generation (-600/-700/-800/-900ER) can fit up to 220 people per aircraft.
Variants
737-400
Older variant of Boeing 737. Malaysia Airlines used to have a lot of this kind
737-800
Malaysia Airlines has completely phased out the usage of 737-400s in their fleet. 737-800s are better choice due to its lower maintenance cost and improved fuel efficiency.
Usage
Malaysia Airlines
Malaysia Airlines use Boeing 737 primarily for short and medium-haul routes.
Incidents
Given is more than 50 years of service, Boeing 737 aircraft collectively has collected many flight hours and substantial number of accidents have happened.
As of October 2015, 368 aviation accidents and incidents involving all Boeing 737 aircraft have occurred, with 184 of them involves hull-loss accidents.
The aircraft model has also involved with 111 hijacking incidents with 325 fatalities.
Future plans
Boeing is currently developing 737 MAX, which will offer numerous improvements.