Boeing mishaps, Singapore Airlines turbulence spark flight safety jitters
A spate of high-profile airline accidents this year have left a lasting impression on the public. There was the fiery Japan Airlines runway collision on January 2, followed days later by the Boeing Co. door-plug blowout. From lost wheels to a turbulent Singapore Airlines flight this week, the headline-grabbing events have left the flying public to wonder whether it’s still safe to fly. The reality, statistics show, remains that getting on a Boeing or Airbus jetliner is still exponentially safer than the drive to the airport. Last year, there wasn’t a single fatality among the 37m commercial airline flights. While 2024 won’t match that record, it’s been an average year in terms of airline safety. Yet public perception remains jittery. US web searches for “flight safety” hit the highest level in March since October 2014, according to Google Trends. That year a decade ago was a particularly bad one for aviation fatalities. The disappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight 370 in March was followed by the shooting down of the same carrier’s flight 17 over Ukraine in July and an AirAsia crash in December. The accidents this year have caused far fewer fatalities than in early 2014 or in 2019, when the second of two Boeing 737 Max flights crashed in March, killing 157 people in Ethiopia. Five people aboard a Japan coastguard turboprop lost their lives in early January when the plane ventured onto the runway path of an incoming Airbus A350. While nobody died in the January 5 structural failure of a 737 Max 9 operated by Alaska Air Group Inc., the accident dealt a serious blow to Boeing’s credibility and to passenger confidence. Since then, a series of more minor incidents, from a Delta Air Lines Inc. Boeing 757 losing a nose wheel to a United Airlines Holdings Inc. 737 Max skidding off a runway in Houston, have received widespread media coverage. On the flight from London to Singapore this week, a 73-year-old British man died from a suspected heart attack after the plane encountered severe turbulence.<br/>
https://portal.staralliance.com/cms/news/hot-topics/2024-05-24/general/boeing-mishaps-singapore-airlines-turbulence-spark-flight-safety-jitters
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Boeing mishaps, Singapore Airlines turbulence spark flight safety jitters
A spate of high-profile airline accidents this year have left a lasting impression on the public. There was the fiery Japan Airlines runway collision on January 2, followed days later by the Boeing Co. door-plug blowout. From lost wheels to a turbulent Singapore Airlines flight this week, the headline-grabbing events have left the flying public to wonder whether it’s still safe to fly. The reality, statistics show, remains that getting on a Boeing or Airbus jetliner is still exponentially safer than the drive to the airport. Last year, there wasn’t a single fatality among the 37m commercial airline flights. While 2024 won’t match that record, it’s been an average year in terms of airline safety. Yet public perception remains jittery. US web searches for “flight safety” hit the highest level in March since October 2014, according to Google Trends. That year a decade ago was a particularly bad one for aviation fatalities. The disappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight 370 in March was followed by the shooting down of the same carrier’s flight 17 over Ukraine in July and an AirAsia crash in December. The accidents this year have caused far fewer fatalities than in early 2014 or in 2019, when the second of two Boeing 737 Max flights crashed in March, killing 157 people in Ethiopia. Five people aboard a Japan coastguard turboprop lost their lives in early January when the plane ventured onto the runway path of an incoming Airbus A350. While nobody died in the January 5 structural failure of a 737 Max 9 operated by Alaska Air Group Inc., the accident dealt a serious blow to Boeing’s credibility and to passenger confidence. Since then, a series of more minor incidents, from a Delta Air Lines Inc. Boeing 757 losing a nose wheel to a United Airlines Holdings Inc. 737 Max skidding off a runway in Houston, have received widespread media coverage. On the flight from London to Singapore this week, a 73-year-old British man died from a suspected heart attack after the plane encountered severe turbulence.<br/>
