Boeing 737 aircraft of all modifications were produced more than any other jet passenger airliners in the world - more than five thousand copies. They began to build them back in 1967.
Five thousand for aviation - a very large number, almost a whole air fleet. Every five seconds, one of the Boeing 737 aircraft lands, and the same aircraft takes its place in the airspace. At any moment of the day or night, more than one thousand two hundred such airliners plow the sky.
The design of the airframe was generally so successful that for decades it underwent only not very significant changes.
So, the fuselage of the Boeing 737 400 modification was extended by three meters, which was caused by the requirement of charter companies, this change entailed the processing of the air conditioning system.
At that time, the transverse size of the aircraft of the entire 737 series was unprecedentedly large; it allowed passengers to sit in three in two rows, this was a revolutionary achievement, which was also applied in the modification of the Boeing 737 500.
The layout of the cabin is as follows: in the economy class - six in a row, in the suite - four with a larger seat width. The layout of the airframe became classic for medium- and later long-haul transcontinental passenger aircraft. Two engines consume less fuel, and kerosene saving became by 1967 one of the main goals of aircraft manufacturers around the world. Such a scheme was further applied in the design of Airbuses and in the construction of Russian airliners, and became the general line for the development of passenger aircraft around the world. To some extent, almost all modern civilian aircraft are similar to the Boeing 737 500. The cabin layout has also become a role model for decades, at least when creating interiors for medium-haul airliners.
Motor nacelles have a slightly flattened bottom shape in order to compensate for the low landing of the fuselage.
Aircraft sales almost immediately went very actively. Alaska Airlines has purchased and uses four dozen Boeing 737,500 airliners, which shows the wide climatic possibilities of operating this machine.
The Boeing 737 500 is not very large in size, its length is about 30 meters, it is 2 meters shorter than the previous 737 300 modification, while it has a non-stop flight range (it reaches 3,400 km), less fuel consumption, and it takes passengers to board up to 130 people (with one-cabin layout). This modification was carried out for nine years. From 1990 to 1999, a little less than four hundred cars were manufactured.
The developers of the Boeing 737 500 airliner paid much attention to the ergonomics of not only the passenger cabin, but also the pilot's cabin. The display, which took the place of "alarms", as pilots call analogue dial gauges, became color. If necessary, a GPS navigation system is installed on the control panel.
As for the convenience for passengers, despite the fact that the duration of flights on medium highways usually does not exceed two to three hours, the conditions in the cabin of a Boeing 737 500 are not worse than for long-haul flights. Taking advantage of the capabilities of modern entertainment complexes mounted in the seatbacks, some airlines, such as Turkish Airlines, broadcast the entire process of landing an airliner as it is visible from the pilot's cabin. It is very interesting.