Boeing Screwed Up Big Time, But Not Every Aviation Incident Is Boeing’s Fault

Oh no. It’s happened again. Something fell off a Boeing airliner! This has to be a big problem for the Seattle manufacturer, right? Another disaster!

Whoa there, turbo—cool your jets. I’m here to tell you that it’s not that simple. Boeing has some serious issues right now, but media hype is starting to distort the picture. Let’s talk about what’s really going on.

The latest incident to hit the news is an engine cover tearing off a Southwest Boeing 737, as covered by the New York Post. Some outlets would have you thinking this is another slam dunk against Boeing. News.com.au even ran the story under the headline “Video shows big new problem for Boeing” to further feed the hysteria. But let’s get real.

Scary moments for passengers on a Southwest flight from Denver to Houston when the engine cover ripped off during flight , forcing the plane to return to Denver Sunday morning. pic.twitter.com/BBpCBXpTsl

— Sam Sweeney (@SweeneyABC) April 7, 2024

Conflation

Real talk—Boeing has had some major incidents in recent years. The MCAS system on the Boeing 737 MAX had serious problems that led to crashes costing hundreds of lives. The recent Alaska Airlines flight that recently lost a door plug thanks to missing fasteners was another embarrassing incident. It was another strike against the company.

But both of these incidents had something in common. Boeing was at fault. In the case of the MCAS system, the root of the problem was in Boeing’s engineering decisions. As for the Alaska Airlines flight, it’s believed the aircraft left the manufacturer in unsatisfactory condition.

In contrast, the Southwest incident can’t be laid at Boeing’s door so easily. The plane in question had been in service since 2017. For much of its life since then, the plane has likely been the responsibility of Southwest Airlines maintenance crews. In those circumstances, the responsibility for any failure becomes more complex.

Realistically, most mature 737s aren’t losing engine covers on takeoff. For a plane that has been in service for multiple years, responsibility for a failure like this is perhaps more likely to lie at the feet of the operator. Perhaps a Boeing crew directly fitted the engine cover to the Southwest flight, but at this point in its life, it’s far more likely that the airline’s own maintenance team, or a contractor, are the ones working on the plane.

It is, of course, possible for later failures to be the fault of the original manufacturer. If the aircraft had recently been back to the manufacturer for service, then Boeing could of course have played a role. Similarly, if a part fails due to manufacturing issues, there’s something to be said. But it shouldn’t be assumed just because Boeing originally built the plane. Proper investigation from the FAA, NTSB, or other authorities will reveal the truth.

Think of it this way. If you buy a brand-new Toyota Corolla and the engine seizes three months into ownership, then it’s almost certainly Toyota’s mistake. If you buy a used Corolla from five years ago, and then a further three years on, it dies, then the issue is more complex. You or the previous owner might have skipped some important maintenance, or it could still be down to some long-lurking manufacturing fault from Toyota itself.

If a wheel falls off an airliner after years in service, finding the responsible party is more complicated.

This rule should be applied to other incidents, too. The simple reality is that thousands upon thousands of flights take place every day, many using Boeing aircraft. A shockingly small number of those flights will experience technical issues, most of which are minor. Because of the current media focus on the company right now, it’s big news every time a Boeing plane pops a tire or loses a wheel. These incidents are dangerous and need to be eliminated wherever possible. But they’re not all Boeing’s fault. Indeed, a great many come down to airline maintenance practices or operator mistakes.

Right now, it’s not possible to apportion blame to Boeing for the Southwest incident—or most others, for that matter. Determining culpability is the job of Federal agencies, not the media. It’s poor practice to use the current hype to generate unnecessary fear or confusion around Boeing aircraft. Indeed, many of these articles are simply written because there’s a thirst for stories on Boeing right now—never mind the narrative the torrent of stories implies. Ask yourself this: Did you hear about the Airbus jet with an engine issue two days ago?

[Mercedes’ Note: We’re understating how many times an Airbus aircraft has some sort of incident. If you follow the Aviation Herald as I do you’ll find that both Airbus and Boeing planes encounter issues nearly daily. And these issues sound serious from the loss of a hydraulic system, cabin smoke, or engine failure.

Yet, you don’t really hear when a 20-year-old Airbus A320 loses a part. It wouldn’t be hard to just write about Airbus failures and make it seem as though the Airbus A320 is the Yugo of the sky.

What you’re seeing is not really a sudden rise of Boeing planes falling apart, but some media outlets watching for anything to write about Boeing aircraft, regardless if it has anything to do with Boeing or not. The incidents you see have been happening for far longer than some outlets have been paying attention. 

For another example, unruly passengers are still all over the news. Based on the number of stories, you’d think that people being jerks in the sky is still a growing problem. The reality is that unruly passenger incidents have decreased to under pre-pandemic levels.

If anything, the stories you are seeing are somewhat demonstrations of how sturdy commercial airliners are. You can lose an engine cowling, a body panel, a door plug, or a slat, and people still get on the ground safely.

Boeing absolutely deserves the scrutiny right now, especially in light of what happened with the whistleblower, but not every failure is entirely Boeing’s fault. Remember, American Airlines Flight 191, the most deadly singular crash on U.S. soil, was caused primarily by improper maintenance by the airline. – MS]

Ultimately, there are plenty of reasons why Boeing needs to up its game and, hopefully, this media bruising will be a reminder of what happens when companies sacrifice their historic name and engineering prowess for a few quarters of share price growth.

Safety in air travel needs to be paramount, and the company seems to have swapped a priority for engineering aircraft into engineering profits. Regardless, that’s no excuse to go raving about the manufacturer every time a minor technical issue occurs in routine airline operations. Stay smart out there, and don’t believe the hype.

Image credits: Top Shot – Samantha Gades via Unsplash License, Sam Sweeney via Twitter Screenshot