One iteration too many?

Back in 2006, Boeing had planned to replace its aging 737 that was first produced in 1968, with a “clean-sheet” design along the lines of its revolutionary 787 Dreamliner.

This decision however was postponed in 2010 as Airbus launched its fuel-efficient A320neo family and as that plane elicited too much interest from airline fleets. Boeing got scared to lose that lucrative market to Airbus and decided then to quickly modify its 737.

The problem was that rejuvenating an old plane required compromises that never would never be tolerated in a new design. The result of this short-cut might be what is creating today's problems.

The more fuel-efficient engines used by Airbus had huge diameter air intakes which worked fine with their plane huge ground clearance, but the Boeing Max had limited space under its wings, forcing Boeing to shorten the pods holding the engines.

This came at the cost of seriously changing the airplane flying behavior by forcing it to dangerously raise its nose, creating a risk of stalling.

That when software came to the rescue and was installed to address the potential problem, without the pilots even noticing that some software was working behind the scene.

The rest is now public knowledge and today, Boeing may have no choice but to bite the bullet and finally invest the millions necessary to fully design a new replacement plane.