Everyone has now become a junior aviation safety expert and the number of “if it’s Boeing, I’m not going” quips have become nauseating. What a luxurious world we live in…
“If It’s Boeing, I’m Not Going” Hysteria As Led To Reckless Decisions
Take Rachel Sklar, who penned a piece for New York Magazine. She wonders if Boeing is evil.
For the past few months, the Boeing C-suite has been a bit like Kensington Palace, in that we keep fixating on it and asking: What is happening? Why would you do that? and Are you evil? Boeing kept the top brass safe in their jobs until literally this week, when CEO Dave Calhoun, who had blamed the door incident on “quality escape,” announced that he would resign by the end of 2024.
The long-winded article interviews several nervous nellie fliers who vow that they will not fly Boeing.
There is so much foolishness on display, like her friend “Josh” who thinks he is being safe by driving instead of flying a Boeing:
“I was looking for flights back from Vancouver to New York, and I saw that it said Max 8 on Kayak, and I said, I’m not going to fly that. I actually chose a flight out of Seattle. So we’re driving three hours from Vancouver to Seattle.”
What a fool.
A 2017 Harvard University study suggested the odds of your plane crashing are one in 1.2 million while the odds of dying from that crash are one in 11 million. Meanwhile, your chances of dying in a car accident are one in 5,000. Put another way, you face death at a 750 times higher risk per mile when driving versus flying in a commercial plane. Quibble with the stats all you want, but the undeniable bottom line is that you are much safer flying than driving.
Way to go Josh for putting your family in danger!
Sklar later quotes Bloomberg’s Joe Weisenthal, who makes a more valid point:
“If the preeminent maker of planes in America is having perpetual trouble making planes, that worries me about the country.”
Yes, that is a reasonable concern. There is a malaise over Boeing right now that the ouster of CEO Calhoun will not immediately resolve (bless him, he says he is “resigning” because his family wants him to spend more time with them). Supply chain issues, delays, a lack of safeguards, and diminishing quality control are all unacceptable for America’s leading aircraft manufacturer.
And of course, most of the recent incidents in the move (though probably not the Alaska Airlines 737 MAX 9 incident) are more properly attributed to poor airline maintenance, not Boeing.
However, I am convinced that there are still enough safety safeguards such that I would not think twice about flying any commercial aircraft in the United States.
CONCLUSION
My oh my, this is a hot topic right now. I’m amazed at how often it has come up in my social circles lately. But no, I’m still happy to fly any Boeing aircraft. And driving three hours to avoid a Boeing aricraft is pure folly if safety is your real concern.
image: Boeing
Well, now that a Delta Airbus also had an incident with a panel, he might have to row all the way to Europe next time he wants to go there. What a clown!
@Santastico … I’d travel on the QEII ocean liner in a heartbeat .
In “A Night at the Opera” , the Marx Brothers had a Lot of Fun on their ocean liner ; more than anyone has ever seen on an airplane . Chico led the passengers in a group sing-a-long .
The QE2 no longer has propellors so it might take a bit longer than expected to make the crossing these days.
I have done the Cunard line crossing. You are right that it’s a lot more fun than a flight– pricing is actually relatively comparable to a flight (for a party of 2), but you get far more room, far better food, far better service. The only downside is the time, and I guess the booze isn’t free on the boat.
The boat is probably a little more dangerous than a flight too– not so much the risk of drowning in the ocean, but just the risk of having a personal medical emergency when you are a few days away from advanced medical care. But, you have to die of somewhere– I’d rather it be on a beautiful cruise ship than a plane any day.
The 737 Max was created in a hurry to compete with Airbus because developing a new plane would have taken longer. 737 Max is a hack job. It should not exist. It is created by the incompetent management at Boeing.
Are you an engineer or a regulator?
While it is clear that Boeing has some quality control issues that must be addressed, it is crazy to forget the fact that deadly commercial aviation accidents are basically non-existant in North America (and the majority of the rest of the world). Even these well publicized instances of things breaking or going wrong demonstrate the fact that our aviation system is designed with such great redundancy, training and procedures that the passengers involved in these incidents generally suffer nothing more than an inconvenient delay. The system should never stop improving, and Boeing must improve their quality control issues, but the media and flying public must maintain perspective.
He didn’t actually say he was going to spend more time with his family, only that they want him to. Which is also probably a lie but a much harder one to prove.
People forget how many deadly crashes the DC-10 had before its cargo doors were finally fixed.
I no longer fault ppl for wishing to avoid the MAX specifically, but Boeing in general? That’s like 40-50% of all planes & laughable
I am avoiding Boeing. Why should I give airlines using them my money if they can’t
have better safety standards
That’s not really fair. If anything, the airlines are in just as much of a bind as pax are. They were kept in the dark of all this just like we were, but are now stuck with these planes, as new ones won’t be feasible for years if not decades.
Like it or not, we’re going to be stuck with Boeing for a while.
That’s absurd. Boeing aircraft are quite safe. Some of their models are statistically among the safest commercial aircraft ever made. The fact that the company is now run by Wall Street suckups is certainly concerning. However, there are more levels of safety redundancy involved with commercial aviation than you can imagine. I make that last assumption based on the content of your above comment, which someone who is well versed in aviation safety would never make.
It’s the psychological aspect. When you sit on a plane, you have no control of the situation.
I was a kid at the time but I still remember that for years a lot of people refused to fly on a DC-10. It was a real thing. I imagine that today, no matter how absurd it is, it’s also becoming a real thing.
The media is once again placing their own financial gain over actual facts with their Boeing fear-mongering (United being a perfect example) Yes, Boeing has big problems, but that doesn’t change the fact that flying is still safer than it’s ever been, and aircraft are designed with redundancy so if one system fails, due to a manufacturing OR maintenance issue, the plane still flies.
Kind of ironic how the media is placing profit over acting ethically while reporting about a company placing profit over acting ethically.
@Kurt … Please give one example of the media acting ethically .
Interview “shows” ambushing a guest with loaded surprise questions perhaps ?
No I agree. I’m just pointing out the absurd lack of self awareness that has come from the media recently, and how the audience has eaten it all up without any second thought.
How well do the complainers maintain their own cars?
Did you know that tire pressure monitoring systems show a warning only after tire pressure is 20% too low. That could mean 6-7 psi too low. That is too insensitive so I check my pressures myself. Newer cars sometimes have a read out of the psi, though.
@derek … obviously you do not have Michelins .
I have superior Pirellis. Some Michelins are garbage and the good ones don’t come in my size.
I appreciate Matt’s point and feel the same but… perhaps these scaredy-cats are on the right track in that if there isn’t some type of pressure to reform now, we’ll be on flying pintos eventually. The Boeing safety culture presently reminds me of Homer Simpson’s slogan on Nuclear power safety: “It has to be safe enough”. They keep cutting corners for short term profits until something bad happens but until then, it’s all well and good.
I actually heard this statement at an executive meeting when the abysmal employee engagement ratings were reviewed: “Well, people haven’t quit yet so these numbers aren’t that serious”. Basically, until multiple people decided to upheave their personal life and abandon a longtime career, then the executive didn’t think it was a problem. Until someone literally dies, then don’t worry about it. Heck, 364 people died on Dennis Muilenburg’s watch and he got an exit package of $58 million. This CEO gets to stay to the end of the year so I guess it’s ok for him to be incompetent for yet another 1/2 year? Us normies are held FULLY responsible if we mess up but we’re “little people.”
Boeing is a national disgrace caused by the FTC allowing a Frankenstein merger between a defense contractor and a civilian aircraft firm. This would be like RAID bug spray Inc merging with Gerber baby food. The FTC should step in and demand they split up AND penalize them severely, particularly McDonnell. Why hasn’t someone done something about this yet?
@Polish … Yep . Why hasn’t someone done something ? Complacency .
Ask Harvard why they did nothing about plagiarism ? Complacency .
Ask politicians why they do nothing about unethical conduct ? Complacency .
Yeah, nothing related to Harvard. Boeing is a case of promoting Wall street finance types instead of engineers to positions of upper and senior management. Profits over quality and safety…
Mathew, have you seen the John Oliver episode on Boeing? In any case, definitely agree with your points on overall safety. However, Boeing should be held to the fire for this.
I have…a great segment and I am 100% for holding Boeing accountable.
Just not *too* accountable, apparently. Think of the PR money!
What do you propose we do differently than we have already done?
The crashes in Ethiopia or Indonesia would likely not have occurred had there been more experienced pilots at the helm.
Penalize the management with hard financial penalties? It’s crazy that Dave Calhoun could walk away with millions when he leaves Boeing later this year.
https://edition.cnn.com/2024/03/26/investing/boeing-ceo-millions-nightcap/index.html
Fine, jail him or fine the heck out of him.
Him and so many others…including the ones who left the company already as well.
I dont know… I am a die-hard flyer for the last 10 years or so… and I am not flying a MAX. Havent done so and will not. Feel free to make fun of it if that makes you feel good.
No issues with other Boeing jets though.
I hope many more people feel like you do so that I can get better prices and upgrades on Max flights over the next few years.
How many MAX flights have there been since the last crash 5 years ago? More than 3,000,000? I’m just guessing.
There are issues to address, but I have flown in a DC10, and some wacky Cessnas and stuff like that.
I’m reminded of Abraham Wald’s groundbreaking observation on survivorship bias. Ironically, the significant flaw in the 737 Max (the lower center of gravity on the front) which resulted in the tragic fatalities due to the MCAS software issue, led to exceptional FAA oversight making this plane one of the safest now.
Boeing used to be the Toyota of the air in excellence and safety. Now, it’s basically GM. I would still ride in a GM car, they’re still (mostly) safe but I’m sad to see such a decline.
“Everyone has now become a junior aviation safety expert”
Pot calls the kettle black. WTF do YOU know about ANYTHING do to with aviation, other than who serves warm nuts?
Jack Sheet.
Hypocrite.
ROTFL. Thanks for the laugh princess.
I actually googled Jack Sheet. I was wondering it it was some new kewl kids euphemism or reference. After getting returns for a financial advisor in Huntsville, Alabama I realized that this was actually some old school reference to Jack…yeah…sh$t.
It’s tough being in the middle sometimes.
You actually had to Google that? What an idiot!
If it ain’t on the KFC menu, then Nooooo thank you!
If it ain’t deep fried I’m not satisfied!
If it ain’t in a greasy bucket, you can shove it!
Thanks for your article Matthew. This irrational fear that has swept over portions of society is concerning. A reputation is hard to fix when there are deaths or possible deaths involved, which stem from inside the manufacturing process. I used to LOVE the Boeing company. The company was tightly knit into the Seattle, Everett, Renton Washington communities. How on earth can Boeing repair its ugly image. The company comes across as being in hysterics. No one person will solve the issues that Boeing has. Changing the current management team will only lead to people making poor decisions because the people running the company will have less experience. Boeing needs to get the Max 7-Max 10 and the 777-9 delivered on time without any major issues arising. Cross our fingers…
Same notice to you as to Ben: the odds of you two writing the exact same blog posts within 36 hours are zero.
Have fun with your Boeing money.
You give me far too much credit.
Ben should have given me a hat tip! 😉
To your great credit, you don’t have a certain Tiffany sitting in Spokane deleting critical comments.
🙂
There was a recent twitter thread posted about a letter sent by Boeing engineers back in 2008:
““Due to their current strategy of off-loading design work to inexperienced engineers and laying off their own highly experienced employees, Boeing management has created an environment where these errors are much more likely to occur.
The most telling statement about the trend of engineering at Boeing is this statement, which is heard more and more often from fellow engineers: “After seeing how engineering is done here today, I’m afraid to fly on the next new Boeing airplane.”””
This guy should have been on one of the Max that crashed. Maybe then boeing would hav3 been held accountable.
Hi Matthew! I’m so glad I found this post & comment section. Your points are well-taken, and I tried to raise most of them in my piece. (Alas my link to the John Oliver segment was in a section that got cut.) I will say though that this comment section pretty aptly demonstrates where we are right now – on the one hand, genuine trust in the safety of air travel, but on the other hand, mistrust of Boeing and enough examples from semi-recent history to sketch us out (DC-10, Pinto). I just tried to get how people were feeling about it (and as we all know, feelings are not always rational!). I actually haven’t had to make that choice myself because I haven’t flown since the new year (and by the way this is the *second* time I’ve been namechecked on your blog! Feel free to ask me about that Jetblue lawsuit, I had a big aviation Q1). My daughter, however, is spending spring break with her dad who lives a hefty drive away and I confess that I always cross my fingers that he’ll opt to fly. FWIW!
Anyway, I’m glad to have found this blog and look forward to engaging more in Q2, which I hope/trust will require less of me on the aviation commentary front.
Thanks, Rachel! I appreciate your comment.
They just ruied themselves where you can just cover up the the first “not” word with a sticker.