People will say it’s not the same as the other Boeing incidents.
They’re right, it’s not.
Unfortunately this is a new normal.
The Federal Aviation Authority has succumbed to regulatory capture. The FAA is no longer capable of protecting American’s from poor design and build quality by American manufacturers, or from poor maintenance by American airlines
The best way to stay safe is to do 2 things:
Choose to fly on Aircraft designed and built in Europe recently, or perhaps America before 2007.
The FAA had massive budget cuts after the financial the crisis and even though they were meant to be temporary putting the budget back has been a political football ever since. American Aircraft designed and built since those budget cuts are the problem.
Choose an airline that has routes in Europe and not just domestically. That means maintenance is likely to have to comply with a better funded regulatory body in addition to the FAA.
Do one and 2 and you’ll almost certainly be safe. Aircraft design and build will be as safe as we’d come to expect, so will the maintenance.
I’d prioritise 1 if you can’t do both. Even though it seems bad, a well designed aircraft losing a piece like this mid flight isn’t going to bring it down. Even if it’s not good enough to catch things like this I’d expect maintenance by domestic American Airlines to still avoid a crash, even without FAA oversight being effective. If a piece falls off, redundancy or simply the fact it’s not critical to flight means the pilot will be able to simply divert and land. Delays, not deaths.
The problem Boeing has brought in is we’re now flying modern aircraft without redundancy in key systems and structures. The FAA has allowed it. It’s the thing that’s most likely to cause fatal accidents.
People will say it’s not the same as the other Boeing incidents.
They’re right, it’s not.
Unfortunately this is a new normal.
The Federal Aviation Authority has succumbed to regulatory capture. The FAA is no longer capable of protecting American’s from poor design and build quality by American manufacturers, or from poor maintenance by American airlines
The best way to stay safe is to do 2 things:
The FAA had massive budget cuts after the financial the crisis and even though they were meant to be temporary putting the budget back has been a political football ever since. American Aircraft designed and built since those budget cuts are the problem.
Do one and 2 and you’ll almost certainly be safe. Aircraft design and build will be as safe as we’d come to expect, so will the maintenance.
I’d prioritise 1 if you can’t do both. Even though it seems bad, a well designed aircraft losing a piece like this mid flight isn’t going to bring it down. Even if it’s not good enough to catch things like this I’d expect maintenance by domestic American Airlines to still avoid a crash, even without FAA oversight being effective. If a piece falls off, redundancy or simply the fact it’s not critical to flight means the pilot will be able to simply divert and land. Delays, not deaths.
The problem Boeing has brought in is we’re now flying modern aircraft without redundancy in key systems and structures. The FAA has allowed it. It’s the thing that’s most likely to cause fatal accidents.