FAA Asks Airlines To Inspect Door Plugs On Boeing 737-900ER Planes
ForbesJAN 17 2024
FAA Orders Inspection of Door Plugs on Another Boeing Model
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The Spin
Narrative A
Any news of incidents during flights will draw public scrutiny and fear, but it's important to take a step back and look at the overall safety record of US commercial planes. According to the same agency investigating Boeing, the number of annual flight accidents has dropped from 1.8K two decades ago to 1.2K today and, of those, 95% occurred on private noncommercial, agriculture, or on-demand air-taxi flights. While issues can occur, flying is still one of the safest transportation methods around.
Narrative B
Boeing was once a beloved company producing the most advanced and safest aircraft in the world. This was due to its policy of prioritizing safety in manufacturing, something that changed after the company began outsourcing manufacturing to companies like Spirit in 2005. As this corporate environment has distanced the company further from its roots, its old generation of safety-focused employees has also chosen to retire. Boeing can be great again, but to do so it must stop putting cost-effectiveness over quality engineering.