Why the 737-800?

Hi all

If you have read my previous posts, you already know that I work for Airbus. So, why did I choose the 737-800 instead of one I could be much more close to?

Well, the TLDR answer is: because when I started serious flight simming, there was no other airliner in the market with this degree of fidelity capable of landing in both, small airports and big international ones.

Of course, there are other reasons which made me continue on this path. I have also flown A320s in the sim, with a lower degree of fidelity at the beginning, and when you learn about Fly-by-wire I realized it was so poorly simulated... For those of you who don't know what FBW is, here you have a short and simple (cross fingers) definition: in a few words, FBW consists of a complex flight controls system where instead of mechanical connections between the cockpit flight controls and the control surfaces actuators (which are usually augmented by some hydraulics or electrical system), the flight controls are electronically sent to a set of computers which, depending on a complex logic, commands an electrical/electro-hydraulic actuator some input. So, back into my experience, I did not like flying an Airbus without a proper simulation of this. Therefore, I got serious in learning all the 737 information I could at the time.

No need to say that there are now some great simulations of the Airbuses. However, when I have tried them, I did really notice the differences in the concept of handling the aircraft. First, you have to take into account that I was actually within my PPL course when trying, so the concept of a side-stick with a computer in the loop to control the aircraft could be considered some kind of negative training. Also, the Airbus original design was more focused on automation, and I did find that once airborne, I did essentially focus on a very small area of the cockpit (FGCP and MFCDU) in terms of interaction with the aircraft. Not that the 737 is not well automated, but for many more procedures you have to interact with more areas of the cockpit (mainly overhead). In the A320 all the information is centralized and detailed in the ECAM, while in the 737 a very high level overview is shown on the annunciators panels while more detailed information must be sought by scanning the panels. This, added to the fact that you have to expend a good amount of money (hopefully much less than with a plug and play solution in my case), made me keep within my well known 737, for once you have spent the money in something, at least you get to use it much more.

Furthermore, recently I found a Youtube channel and an App, Mentour Pilot (link on the right) with lots of information about how an actual 737 is flown (apart from tons of interesting videos about aviation, you can learn a lot solely by watching its Accidents investigation playlist). You can even "sit yourself" within a flight simulator in an actual training session and look around while he teaches one procedure or the other to the corresponding trainee.

Said this, I must say I love both aircraft (most models indeed). These two families (737s vs A320s) are quite similar in capabilities and in terms of safety. Most accidents are mainly caused by poor crew behaviour or company policies (or lack of), and as a passenger I enjoy flying both a lot. Our industry is well sustained by very professional personnel that are trained to deal with any potential situation in accordance with procedures long reviewed to include new lessons learnt with each incident, so there is no reason to prefer one over the other as a passenger. Indeed, the main reason that drives companies to purchase one model or the other are more related with current fleet and crew certification, maintenance facilities and personnel or simply image (European companies slightly tend to purchase, in general, more Airbus and North American ones the other way around), so the taste for one of them specifically is something quite personal but can barely be based on actual technical data. Both are excellent aircraft widely capable to cope with customer needs and I find amusing that whatever airport you go to you can usually see the two families sharing the tarmac, demonstrating once more the similitudes between them in terms of operability and performance. The main differences existing depend more of specific company customizations than on the platform itself.

So, to sum up coming back to the simulator, I have chosen the 737 because it feels more natural for me considering my wider experience on it and my active PPL license; and because you are required to interact more with more components of the cockpit even during normal procedures, so the effort needed to implement each panel may have a little bigger reward in terms of lifecycle use.

Hope you did find this page interesting and do not forget to contact me for whatever you consider I may be of help (without revealing confidential information from my employer :P).