The aviation sector’s
leading safety officials are scrambling to embolden the traveling public after
a recent string of incidents and investigating into the practices of major
aircraft manufacturer Boeing,
insisting that flying in the U.S. remains remarkably safe compared to other
forms of travel.
The
Washington Post has reported that—aside from simply snagging news headlines—the
latest spate of high-profile mishaps, which occurred within just weeks of each
other, has sparked a slew of social media memes and inspired late-night
comedians to poke fun at Boeing and the airlines involved in said incidents.
At last week’s What’s
Next Summit in Washington D.C., Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg told
Axios that flying is definitely still the safest mode of travel. "Every
time I get on a plane, I know that I'm participating in the safest mode of
transportation in America,” he said, “And I know the people who work very hard
to keep it that way. And that's part of why we're pressing Boeing so hard."
Michael Whitaker, head
of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) echoed that opinion on NBC’s ‘Nightly
News’, saying “The system is safe, it’s still the safest way to travel, but
we are working vigilantly to make sure it stays that way. This is an ongoing
task, we’re always looking for risks and addressing those risks.”
Chair of the
National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), Jennifer Homendy, posted on
X to point out the illogicality of the media’s seeming hyper-focus on
non-fatal aviation mishaps when car crashes kill an average of 40,000 people in
the U.S. each year. “118 people will die on our roads today. Where is the
outrage?” she wrote. “I’ve seen a lot of sensationalism around aviation lately,”
she continued, “The fact is our aviation system is the safest in the world and
all of us—investigators, regulators, airlines, employees, and manufacturers—are
working to make sure it stays that way. I will say it again, the riskiest part of your travel day is driving.” Meanwhile, the U.S. commercial aviation sector has
gone 15 years without a single fatal crash.
It all started
back in January when a door
plug blew out aboard an Alaska
Airlines flight rapidly depressurizing the cabin and forcing the plane to
make an emergency landing. Luckily, this occurred shortly after takeoff, while
the aircraft was still at a relatively low altitude and no one was injured,
although the incident could have proved deadly under different circumstances. This
led the FAA to require that all Boeing 737-9 MAX model planes be grounded until
they’d undergone a thorough inspection and an NTSB probe was launched into the
incident.
The FAA also
launched a broader investigation into Boeing manufacturing processes, and investigators
identified quality control
issues at the manufacturer’s assembly plant just outside Seattle and at
one the Wichita factory of one of its major suppliers, Spirit AeroSystems. The
agency then halted
production expansion of the Boeing 737 MAX line and is holding Boeing to
account, demanding that its quality assurance inadequacies be rectified.
In a statement, Boeing
wrote, “We are taking significant action to strengthen safety and quality at
Boeing. We are focused on demonstrating change and building trust one airplane
at a time. This increased scrutiny—whether from ourselves, the FAA or from
others—will make us better.” Brian West, the company’s CFO, told analysts at an
investment conference this week, “There’s changes that need to happen. There’s
no doubt about it,” adding, “...We acknowledge that we need to improve upon
safety and quality and conformance.”
When asked what he
found after inspecting the factory floor at Boeing’s production facility,
Whitaker said that he found the culture at Boeing to be far more focused on
turning out planes than assuring the quality and safety of their products. “Safety
and quality has to be the bedrock of everything you do and production has to be
secondary,” he said. He said that solving its current problems will take a fundamental
shift within the company culture. Still, when asked whether he would shut down
production if he thought there were unsafe aircraft being turned out at Boeing,
he said that he absolutely would. He affirmed, “There are not unsafe airplanes
leaving that factory.”
Besides the Alaska
Airlines incident, multiple mishaps have lately involved airplanes flown by United
Airlines, leading to greater
scrutiny and oversight by federal regulators. Within one week in March, one
plane skidded off a runway, another lost a wheel during takeoff, one’s engine
caught fire and the latest jet lost a piece of its outer fuselage. On Saturday,
the FAA affirmed that it was, “increasing oversight of United Airlines to
ensure that it is complying with safety regulations; identifying hazards and
mitigating risk; and effectively managing safety."
United Airlines CEO,
Scott Kirby, wrote in a letter to customers this week, “Our airline has
experienced a number of incidents that are reminders of the importance of
safety,” adding, “While they are all unrelated, I want you to know that these
incidents have our attention and have sharpened our focus.” To employees,
United said in a memo on Friday that the FAA agrees, “that we need to take an
even closer look at multiple areas of our operation to ensure we are doing all
we can to promote and drive safety compliance.”
Despite all of the
recent incidents that have led to safety concerns and increased scrutiny by federal
regulators, it doesn’t seem to be deterring Americans from wanting to travel as
the warmer months approach. While plenty of people on social media have
expressed that they’re too spooked to board a plane these days, recent polls
suggest that, on the whole, U.S. travelers still feel flying is generally
safe. And, Airlines for America (A4A), which represents major airlines, is
predicting that spring travel demand will actually increase six percent over
the same period last year, anticipating that a record 167.1 million people will
fly within the U.S. during the months of March and April.
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