Boeing 737-200 (N309DL)

Remember those days, thanks.

I remember flying those out of our local airport, before the "RJ infestation'. Back when Untied actual pilots flew actual Untied planes. These were also 737's involved in a baffling number of crashes due to a piece of under-engineered technology that worked 'most of the time'. Boeing got the FAA to back their opinion that the pilots 'panicked' and caused the plane to stall and crash, but the NTSB stuck to the investigation, and eventually proved that Boeing and the FAA were wrong. So the regulator backing a regulated industry figure against all data otherwise is set. The FAA kept backing Boeing, and Boeing continued (continues?) to place the entire blame for the crashes (there were many actually) on 'pilot error'. Even after the mandated redesign ended the rudder hard over crashes. It was in the 737-200's and 300's.

So, post 737MAX, the collusion of regulated and regulator isn't so hard to see. It's also why I still believe that the FAA has to be restructured to place far more emphasis on REGULATING and far less on PROMOTING the airline industry. You can't have both functions in one powerful agency that can get distracted by lobbyists and money.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USAir_Flight_427

But those planes, the memories, and now flying the disgustingly filthy RJ's. I remember flying in one (Untied Express) that smelled of feces. Someone was 'very sick' on the plane on the first run into ORD, and they couldn't get 'housekeeping' to clean it, so it had flown back here, and was then going back to ORD. YUCK! And for over an hour flight, being told that the restroom wasn't available, and the plane literally smelled like shit was a look at the future of air travel with them. HARD PASS. I switched to Northwest/Delta and haven't been on one of 'their' RJ's since. I missed the 737's, and the 727's that were used before. A look back at a more civilized and cleaner time to travel.