Many aircraft have been considered to be the worst aircraft ever. Most of these have stopped flying
for good reason, but some are still flying high. As airlines retire their legendary Boeing 747s,
and the production of the Airbus A380 – the largest passenger airplane ever
built – is almost over, we are nearing the end of an era of the giants.
Want to know about it? Well, stay tuned to the
video And watch the video till the end. Hello guys, Welcome to the Aviation Exclusive.
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Hit the like button to show your support. And in today's video, we are going to talk
about “Most Unsuccessful Commercial Aircraft Ever!” So without any further ado, Let's begin.
Airbus A-340: The glorious quad
jet that is the Airbus A340 has been a staple of many airlines’ long-haul fleets for almost three
decades. With 375 of the type sold, it wasn’t a bestselling aircraft but was bought by more than
60 different airlines and leasing companies. Today, only around 30 A340s are seen flying
per day. The fuel consumption of the A340 was its Achilles heel. Two engines cost less to run than
four, so for many airlines, it was a no-brainer to switch out the quad jet for a more efficient twin.
Adding to its problems were the dramatically rising fuel costs after the turn of the millennia.
Bombardier CRJ-200: The Bombardier CRJ-200 was a commercial success
and a passenger comfort failure. Since 1992, the CRJ-100 and CRJ-200s have plied the skies. The CRJ
cabin was originally designed as a business jet. The jet is supremely comfortable when it features
a nice couch and 1×1 seating. But when you try to place 4 people across, it gets crowded quickly.
Performance always suffers when it's hot out but it's not unusual to see an average
loaded CRJ struggling to climb above 500 feet per minute anytime the jet is above FL200.
While the ceiling is supposedly FL370, the CRJ usually caps out below FL320 in the summertime.
Tupolev Tu-304: Tupolev’s attempt to enter the new
twinjet wide-body airliner race, pioneered by Airbus A330 and Boeing 777, came in the early
90s. The aircraft was supposed to have been in service by the early-2000s, but like many
Russian projects of the time, it failed to leave the drawing board due to a shortage of funding.
The plane – should it have ever been completed – would be slightly smaller than its competitors,
with a length of 62 meters and a wingspan of 57 meters (the 777-200 spanned 63 meters and
60 meters, respectively), but would have been endowed with a peculiar oval cross-section
fuselage allowing for larger seating capacity. MD 80:
American Airlines (AA) grounded its entire fleet of Boeing-manufactured MD-80 aircraft,
a total of around 300 planes. As a result, as many as 2,500 flights were canceled by the airline.
Most carriers have MD-80s in their fleets, and the issue with Southwest's planes held true for all
MD-80s. At issue is the wiring that electrifies the planes' auxiliary hydraulic systems,
which in turn powers some aircraft components. The problem isn't necessarily with the
functionality of the wiring. The FAA's airworthiness directive - an order to complete
an inspection or work on an aircraft -- includes an engineering change order pertaining to the
spacing of the wire bundles. It was this confusion that compounded the massive cancellations
while American Airlines inspected half its total fleet of jets for compliance.
Boeing 757:
Boeing 757 was useful for high-capacity routes and for operating at smaller airports. The
simple fact was that the long single-aisle concept just didn't work for many airlines.
With single door access at gates, turnarounds were longer with aisle congestion.
And passengers were less satisfied with the long aisle and slower boarding and service as a result.
It was not just the specifications that let the 757-300 down. It was also a very late release by
Boeing, entering service some 16 years after the 757-200. Perhaps if the 757-300 had been
offered at launch, things would have worked out differently. Many airlines that would have been
interested were already operating the 757-200. And by that time, there was a lot more choice
in the large narrowbody market. Airbus A-380:
A short 14 years from its first commercial flight, the Airbus A380 has already been retired
by several airlines, and with the production of the aircraft ceasing. Despite being an engineering
marvel, the Airbus A380 was a failure in the aviation market. Many airlines did not
order the Airbus A380 due to its gigantic size. With a wingspan the size of almost 3 Boeing 737s,
it was almost impossible to fill the Airbus A380 to the brim on any route, even the most
popular ones. Also, because of this, the Airbus A380 could only land at a selected 140 airports,
which had to be renovated to have bigger gates that were compatible with the A380.
Embraer EMB-120: Before Embraer made the beloved
ERJ and E-jet series, they made the EMB line of airliners. As with many other aircraft lines,
some were good, beloved even, and others were terrible! The worst aircraft among them was by far
the turboprop EMB-120. There are several reasons this airliner is considered to be “the worst”,
chief among them is its safety record. Many remember the breakup of a Continental Airways
EMB-120 mid-flight, back in 1991. And these aircraft weren’t that old back then.
Now, many are approaching 40 years of service- that certainly takes its toll! There’s also
the fact that the cabin is noisier than other turboprops of a similar age. Ilyushin Il-62:
The Il-62 is a much slower aircraft than the Vickers VC-10 (its closest western rival, in terms
of specifications and design!) On a commercial level, the seats have almost zero comforts,
feeling as though you’re sitting on a rock more than an airline seat.
There’s also the poor maintenance, and thus poor safety standard of the Il-62 that makes
it truly one of the worst aircraft ever! In fact, it’s not uncommon to hear about Il-62s
thrust reversers blowing up. Then there’s also the point that it’s probably a USSR-espionage design,
taken from VC-10. Instead of improving on the design, the Il-62 was made worse in order to not
appear as the total result of espionage. Boeing 737:
The Boeing 737 is the top-selling commercial aircraft of all time and holds its own entry in
the Guinness Book of World Records. It's operated by more than 5,000 airlines in over 200 countries.
And at any given moment, there are roughly 1,200 737 airliners in the sky.
In over three decades of operation, the plane was involved in 19 fatal accidents,
which equates to about one accident for every four million departures. So when a
brand new Boeing 737 max fell from the sky in October 2018, killing all 195 souls on board,
the aviation world took notice. That alone could make it one of the worst aircraft.
Lockheed Martin VLST:
Not to be outdone by Boeing and McDonnell Douglas, Lockheed Martin had their own answer to A380:
the Very Large Subsonic Transport. Several designs were proposed, including the one
with delta wings. The most conservative (and the most realistic) one would have
had an oval cross-section body with two decks, 450 seats each in a two-class configuration.
The end result would be just a bit smaller than the Antonov An-225 Mriya, but the
logistics of operating passenger aircraft of such capacity and size made it highly impractical.
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