Why China’s Plan To OUTSMART Boeing & Airbus Failed Miserably

December 15th, 1971. A Pakistan International Airlines Boeing 707 flying from Karachi to Urumqi crash-lands in Xinjiang, deep in western China. While the crew walked away with only minor injuries, what followed was something strange. Instead of the usual air crash investigators, a team of Chinese engineers quietly descends on the crash site. But they're not here to investigate. Rather, they're here to take the plane apart, piece by piece, and figure out how it was built. Because at this point, China didn't really know how to build a commercial aircraft. And what emerges next shocks the entire world. After just 9 years, in 1980, China rolls out the Y-10, its first large passenger jet, built almost entirely from reverse-engineered Boeing wreckage. Anyone who looked at this plane could instantly see how uncannily similar it was to the 707. However.. its aerodynamics were so poor, China quietly shelves the entire programme. But since… things have changed. In recent years, Beijing has quietly funnelled billions of dollars into a single state-backed company called COMAC, with one goal, to take on Boeing and Airbus head-on in the global market. And in a concerning development for both manufacturers, European regulator EASA has already begun test-flying COMAC's current flagship, the C919, meaning there's a real chance that we could soon see Chinese jets taking over the European skies. But the certification process might actually be the least interesting part of this story. Because what's happening off the radar is what Boeing and Airbus should really be worried about. So, can COMAC really break up the Airbus-Boeing duopoly to become the world's third major plane manufacturer?