Ask Captain Lim - Safest Airlines, ETOPS and Boeing 777 versus Airbus 330/340 issues.

Just would like to say that you have done a wonderful job on the website, it looks great, it has vast amount of data, and it is very professional. It is very hard not to be biased when you compare Boeing and Airbus, ( I am a Boeing fan), but you have done an excellent job.

Just a note, when I was reading through the "The safest airlines in the world - Asia region", I have noticed that Qantas is the best not only in Asia-Pacific region, but in the world as well. I am very glad to see that as I am an Australian citizen. I also noticed that Air China is missing from the list. Before the B767 crashed in Korea this year, it has not had any accidents for 46 years! It is a major achievement for China, isn't it? Just a little bit disappointed with the result. (Was born in China)

Question: B777 probably is the pinnacle of civil aircraft technologies today. 208 minutes of ETOPS currently in place has resulted in lost sales to A340-600(Cathy Pacific, the first user in Asia). Can you see whether this limit will be changed to 240 minute in the near future?

Another question: From the messages I read from the website, I believe that you have been flying both A340 and B777, can you tell me is there any difference between the traditional flight control and Airbus side controller (I forgot the name)? I don't want to start a Boeing Vs Airbus topic like some websites do, but is there any major differences?

Thanks,

Ling Chen

Hi Ling Chen,

Thank you for your comments.

Regarding the statistics for safest Airlines, the data were extracted from AirDisaster.com for I did not have the time to really make a thorough research as to why Air China was missing from the list.

I am not sure as to whether the ETOPS of the Boeing 777 will be extended from 208 minutes to 240 minutes in the near future.

I have not flown the Airbus 340 except the Boeing 777. What I mentioned in some of my answers was that I have actually flown as a passenger on the Airbus 330. I do get a lot of feedbacks from my colleagues who fly the airplane. The Boeing 777 uses the conventional flight control whereas the Airbuses 330/340 use the side stick control. Both these types of airplane are adopting the fly-by-wire concept. I have already answered another question on the side stick control in this Site.

As you have noted, the Boeing vs Airbus story is mainly commercial and there are bound to biases depending on who you are talking to. Both have their pluses but I am more comfortable flying on the Boeing 777!