737 vs. 717

[SkyWestCRJPilot]

It is noisy to sit in the back of an MD-80/DC-9/717 but I don't think you can say that all tail mounted engines are noisy. The CRJ-700 has tailmounted engines with General Electric CF34-8 engines and the E-170 has wing mounted engines with similar CF34-8 engines. I've never had a decible meter but it has seemed to me the noise is louder in the cabin on the E-170. On the CRJ-700 the engines are so far back behind the last row you don't hear as much noise. (From the cockpit in the CRJ-700 you don't hear hardly anything on takeoff.) Continue on with the 717/737 discussion.

 

[rfresh]

The noise on the E-170 may not be all engine noise. In the cockpit I noticed the DC-10 was the quietest and I've been in the cockpit in flight on the 747 and L-1011 - and the DC-10 cockpit was the quietest. I think better sound proofing. Makes a big difference.

 

[Midnight Mike]

Why do I keep reading about this "MD-90EFD"?

I was an instructor pilot on the MD-90 for McDonnell Douglas and continued for awhile after Boeing bought them. The *only* EFIS MD-90's I knew about were the 30 some airplanes built *specifically* for Saudia Airlines. They were the only ones who had an MD-90 EFIS cockpit.

I saw a school's ad recently in Flying magazine, where they showed a sim interior shot and the pic caption said "train in the MD-90EFD" - what airplane are they talking about other than those Saudia MD-90's?

The Saudi MD90's are the MD90EFD, (Enhanced Flight Deck) We had MD90EFD written on the back of the simulator that we used to train the Saudi crews....

 

[AA717driver]

rfresh--The FMS on the 717 works just fine. I did several days where I only flew from STL to MLI. About 20 minutes in the air. Same with SGF to STL.

Given your history with McD, you'd surely know that they used MD11 parts to save money and development time...

Both are fine aircraft. TC

 

[ProLine4]

I heard the reason the 737-700 cockpit isn't as advanced as the 717 is because the launch customer, Southwest, didn't want the cockpit to be so different that it would be separate from the other 737s for training and operating.

That would be a real pain operationally.

I also read somewhere that the reason the 737NG (specifically the overhead panel) wasn't completely overhauled was due to WNs insistence. When your biggest customer for the NG at the time (I think 240+frames including options) asks, well of course it was in Boeing's best interest to comply. I would suspect the 737NG replacement post-2010 will incorporate a clean sheet design based off the 787 avionics suite.