Here’s my latest explanation of the 737 MAX:
An important way to increase the miles-per-gallon of a plane is to reduce the size of the wing. A wing needs to be large enough for takeoffs and landings. They have flaps to increase the size during those periods.
In normal flight the wings don’t need to be as large as they need to be during takeoff and landing.
So Boeing puts a small wing on the 737 MAX and makes up for it by putting on more powerful engines requiring a greater angle of attack to make the small wings have the necessary lift at low speeds.
This combination of things gets the plane off the ground but the smaller wings operating at higher angle of attack make it harder to control during the slow-speed climb. Not impossible but tricky. Computer help is very useful if it works properly.
I’d fly a 778 MAX in America with no hesitation. Our pilots by now know fully how to handle it.
“In normal flight the wings don’t need to be as large as they need to be during takeoff and landing.”
Yeah that is why we have flaps. Don’t quit your day job.
It is more to do with larger engines and the desire but Boeing and Airlines to not retrain pilots. This post is one of the best explanations I have seen so far.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3734243/posts?page=32#32
this is a wild ass guess, right? sort of like if I said it was little green men from mars.
same amount of evidence for both.
That’s not how it works at all, and incidentally, the 737 Max has a slightly LARGER wing area than the 737-800, for example. Wing planform and airfoil design also have a large effect upon aerodynamic efficiency, aside from wing “size.” Sailplanes (gliders) have unusually long wingspans and very large wing areas for their size and weight, and they are the most aerodynamically effficient aircraft in the sky. Just look at the 787. While as a high-speed jet it uses a swept wing, that wing is much longer with a higher aspect ratio as compared to previous airliners. It’s essentially using a swept sailplane wing, and it’s very efficient.