Darkprincess69
High Priestess of Slaanesh
Yes there were certainly issues with the 707, particularly the early versions, but then you could say that about most aircraft types, especially back then before the days when the entire aircraft can be modelled and tested in the computer before it ever leaves the design stage (though issues still arise even today, as anyone familiar with the total debacle that has been the 737 Max8 will be very aware)
Regarding the safety record, we need to factor in the number of aircraft produced of a particular type when comparing figures. The 707 sold 1010 aircraft while only 556 DC8 were built.
According to official numbers, the DC8 suffered 84 hull loss incidents (around 15% of the total), resulting in 2255 deaths, while the 707 has 174 hull losses (approx. 17%) with 3039 fatalities in total, so while you can say that the 707 has had more accidents, you need to remember that almost twice as many were in service.
Of course aviation back in the 60s and 70s was much less safe than it is today - growing up I remember hearing about crashes almost every couple of weeks, whereas these days, with thousands more flights every day, major accidents are now very rare. Without wishing to tempt fate, the last major crash here in the UK, involving a commercial passenger airliner and resulting in fatalities was the Kegworth disaster in January 1989 - that's over 35 years ago, which is very impressive. Bear in mind that I'm talking here about commercial passenger flights - there have been a couple of cargo flight crashes since then in which the crew were killed, notably the 1994 Air Algerie crash in Coventry and Korean Air Cargo flight 8509 in 1999 which crashed just after takeoff from London Stanstead airport.
In general, commercial aviation in Europe is much safer than it is in the US, although again we have to factor in the number of flight operations - the US has a great many more flights each day than we do in the UK and Europe so statistically there is a greater chance of accidents occurring.
