Boeing 757: A Modern Classic
The airplane Boeing got just right. //

The bigger story here, I think, is the decline of Boeing’s reputation for engineering excellence since its 1997 merger with McDonnell Douglas. Since the merger, not one but two new Boeing airliners have been grounded by the FAA, the first such groundings since McDonnell Douglas’ own DC-10 in 1979. The Boeing 787, while a fine design, has suffered many quality- control problems stemming from a complex outsourcing scheme that only an MBA could love, and a union-busting move to South Carolina, bypassing the experienced and costly Seattle workforce. The most serious flaw was a subcontractor’s defective lithium-ion batteries that were prone to thermal runaway and fire, an eventuality that Boeing (and the FAA) failed to predict and mitigate. //

Rather than kick Boeing any more while they’re down, I think it might be instructive to take a look at one of the best airplanes built by the “old” Boeing (or indeed, any manufacturer anywhere), an airplane I’ve come to regard with great respect and affection over the past several years of flying it. I’m speaking, of course, of the venerable Boeing 757. For decades, Boeing’s reputation largely rested on four excellent designs: the 747, 757, 767 and 777. Of these, the 757 has enjoyed the longest success without any significant redesign because Boeing engineers got the plane exactly right on the first go. Even today, as the 757 fleet ages, the airlines haven’t been able to find anything to replace it; there’s still no modern design that performs its mission as well as it does, and so it soldiers on in the fleets of all three U.S. legacy carriers and many overseas airlines as well. //

The 7N7 and 7X7 programs ended up becoming quite enmeshed, as they incorporated the same new technologies, and eventually achieved enough flight deck and systems commonality to be awarded a common pilot type rating despite significant differences in size and handling characteristics. The two designs entered service within months of each other in 1982 as the 757 and 767, respectively. Sales of the 757 were slow at first but took off in the late 1980s and stayed steady through the ’90s before abruptly tapering off after 9/11. Production ended in 2005 with 1,049 aircraft built; nearly 70 percent of the fleet is still in service today, 37 years after the type was first delivered. //

At 240,000 pounds max takeoff weight and 77,000 to 80,000 pounds of thrust depending on the engine option (Pratt & Whitney PW2037 or Rolls-Royce RB211), the 757-200 has the highest thrust-to-weight ratio of any airliner except Concorde. //

The plane’s real strength, however, is its ability to make a 2,200 nm transcontinental flight (say, Boston to San Diego) with an alternate a few hundred miles away and ample reserves, haul an absolutely full load of passengers and cargo, and still take off from a 7000-foot runway and climb straight into the mid-30s. Nothing else can do that, neither the A321 nor the 737-900ER, though the airlines have tried. That’s why the 757 is still popular after all these years.