GROUND the Boeing 737-MAX...Indefinitely!!

[727Sky]

I Originally posted this at ATS:

We had a different problem with the rudder of the 737 way back over 20 years ago. You would be flying and the rudder (by itself) would kick left or right for no reason. It was determined after several incidents that it was the yaw dampener causing the hard over. I think one aircraft crashed going into Colo. Springs and even though some said it was due to wind shear most figure it was due to a rudder hard over.

OK found it !

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia United Airlines Flight 585 N999UA (left), the aircraft involved in the accident Accident Date March 3, 1991 Summary Loss of control due to rudder hardover[1] Site Widefield Park, near Colorado Springs Municipal Airport, United States 38°44′09.4″N 104°42′42.4″W Total fatalities 25 Total injuries 1 Aircraft Aircraft type Boeing 737-291 Operator United Airlines IATA flight No. UA585 ICAO flight No. UAL585 Call sign UNITED 585 Registration N999UA Flight origin Greater Peoria Regional Airport Stopover Quad City International Airport Last stopover Stapleton International Airport Destination Colorado Springs Municipal Airport Occupants 25 Passengers 20 Crew 5 Fatalities 25 Survivors 0 Ground casualties Ground injuries 1 United Airlines Flight 585 was a scheduled passenger flight on March 3, 1991, from Denver to Colorado Springs, Colorado, carrying 20 passengers and 5 crew members on board. The plane experienced a rudder hardover while on final approach to runway 35 at Colorado Springs Municipal Airport, causing the plane to roll over and enter an uncontrolled dive. All 25 people on board the Boeing 737 were killed on impact. The National Transportation Safety Board, (NTSB), was initially unable to resolve the cause of the crash, but after similar accidents and incidents involving Boeing 737 aircraft, the crash was determined to be caused by a defect in the design of the 737's rudder power control unit.[1]: ix 

I was flying the 727 back then and thankful I was. Then they also went through a problem with the engines flaming out on approach and a rain shower.. The fix for that was to increase the idle speed of the engines.

Back in the 2000s I picked up a new Boeing 737-800 from California. I was at 35,000 over El Paso and every CRT went blank/black on the Captains and F.O.'s side. There was a switch you could transfer/bootstrap one side to the other but it did not work to transfer the first officers over to my side for his CRTs were non functional too.

It was a nice star lit night and I could see for hundreds of miles so I told ATC what the problem was as we had no navigation.. No emergency requested by me just don't violate us for getting off an airway. ATC never had to vector us back on course as I had flown that route hundreds of times.. I even shot the ILS 14L into Houston without an ILS !! hahaha

When parked at the gate maintenance and a supervisor came to the aircraft .. I told them what happened and they said that can not happen ! "That may be what Boeing says but here is proof they are wrong !"

They did the switch thingy and popped and checked circuit breakers and were still working on the bird to no avail...

Something I believe is we are test pilots when a new aircraft enters into service... Yes the big bugs are usually worked out but the little creepers can cause major problems as time passes... Just look at the DC-10 ! The two 737 Max that became lawn darts and killed everyone would not have happened IMO if the crew had not been trained to be push button pilots. I will go to my grave sincerely believing if I would have been flying either of those aircraft they would not have crashed because of a simple run-a-way trim problem.

I did fly the MD-80 for a few years but I always thought it was a Micky mouse aircraft compared to the 727.