Still, that’s cold comfort: When it comes to safety, the public should be able to rely on more than happenstance. And another thing that has become clearer is that this near-tragedy was likely preventable, as Boeing chief executive Dave Calhoun himself implied by referring to “our mistake” at a Jan. 9 company town hall.
There’s more to discover about exactly what happened, but federal investigators have already developed a strong working hypothesis: Bolts that hold in place the Boeing 737 Max 9 plane’s door plug, a fuselage panel near the rear of the aircraft, were either loose or missing. This particular airplane had been delivered to Alaska Airlines only nine weeks earlier, so the problem probably wasn’t wear and tear on the parts. After grounding all of its Boeing 737 Max 9 planes for inspections, United Airlines found loose bolts on several of them. That puts not only Boeing on the spot but also the manufacturer that installed the door plug, Spirit AeroSystems. Ditto the Federal Aviation Administration, which approved these planes for delivery. The FAA investigation announced Thursday is a start toward accountability.
This debacle is bound to raise concerns that Boeing was unduly focused on returning to profitability as fast as possible after the 2018 and 2019 Boeing 737 Max 8 crashes in Ethiopia and Indonesia that killed 346 people. Follow-up investigations after those accidents revealed design flaws in that aircraft and a disturbing culture of nonchalance at the company. Mr. Calhoun, installed as chief executive with a mission to clean up Boeing’s act, had previously said the company’s culture was fixed. At the time of the Alaska Airlines incident, Boeing was reportedly trying to ramp up production to 42 planes a month by February, which is fewer than the roughly 50 per month it built before the 2018 and 2019 crashes — but more than the 31 a month in early 2023. Now, Mr. Calhoun finds himself promising to fix the company again with “complete transparency every step of the way.” Boeing’s recovery of public trust might have to start by again slowing production and enhancing quality control.
Another troubling aspect of this case is that the cockpit voice recorder was erased, leaving no usable information for the investigation. The FAA allows this device to overwrite and start a new recording every two hours. Though Flight 1282 lasted much less than that, no one manually stopped the recording device in time to keep it from automatically erasing what had been recorded. The National Transportation Safety Board says the same has happened in 10 prior airplane investigations in the past five years. The European standard is 25 hours. Indeed, most smartphones can record for 18 hours or more. The FAA needs to require all U.S. planes to have 25-hour recorders by the end of the year. This isn’t a technology flaw; it’s a regulatory one.
What’s also increasingly apparent is how much credit the Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 pilots and flight attendants deserve. Cellphone video taken by passengers and audio of the conversations between the cockpit and Portland air traffic controllers (recorded by the latter) show these professionals responding quickly and calmly during what had to be one of the most terrifying situations of their lives. Pilots lowered the plane to 10,000 feet, to counteract the loss of cabin pressure. Meanwhile, flight attendants ensured passengers stayed in their seats with oxygen masks on. Their names have not been released yet, but these crew members deserve a place in aviation history alongside that of Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger, who emergency-landed a US Airways plane on the Hudson River 15 years ago.
Even though commercial air travel within the United States remains safe, with only one fatal accident in the past 15 years, neither technology nor regulation can ensure that equipment functions perfectly all the time. And when it fails, the training and character of its crew are the last lines of defense. The team on board Alaska Airlines 1282 rose to the occasion.
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