Flying: Time for caution?
Shocking stuff you just couldn't make up.
& yes, this is all entirely relevant to Canadians. The planes we're talking about are flown by airlines all over the world. A Canadian man who lost his entire family in one of the crashes (there were 2 big ones in 2018 & 2019 - both of Boeing 737 Max planes) has said he had no clue about any issues with the plane or he'd never have had his family fly on it.
We've been hearing all these odds & ends of news about Boeing issues lately. Problems with planes - doors blowing out. Major crashes back in 2018 & 2019. Whistleblowers alive & dead. Here's yet another recent report of an incident with a Boeing 737. (Wikipedia - not an information source I consider at all neutral or reliable, frankly - but am citing here now while kind of holding my nose - has an interesting entry with a long list of Boeing accidents.)
My attention has been drawn to the Boeing story by Canadian journalist/podcaster Trish Wood.
In a podcast a few weeks back she mentioned a documentary called 'Downfall: The Case Against Boeing' that I've now watched & highly recommend.
Her May 26/24 podcast is POD:BOEING WHISTLEBLOWER TALKS Why Ed Pierson won't fly the 737 Max
The best way to access it is via Substack, here.
Trish interviews a Boeing whistleblower who won’t step foot on the 737 Max, and believes the fleet should be grounded. Together they deep dive into the fall of one of America’s great corporations, its careless approach to safety, and what it all exposes about corporate America’s dangerous obsession with raising share value at any cost. Ed Pierson also reveals the stress on Boeing whistleblowers in the wake of a recent suicide.
Why Am I Weighing In?
I'm choosing to write about this now because I know (& love) many people who travel - some of them, quite a lot.
I want to be sure they hear about this.
Many years of environmental work on a variety of different issues (& then vaccine research, & the whole Covid schmoz) have taught me that we are not well served by the various, so-called "regulatory agencies" that supposedly protect us all from harmful chemicals/pesticides, pharmaceutical drugs/vaccines, train derailments - heck, nuclear plants! Ignorance may be bliss ... but it sure doesn't protect us. Of course, neither do captured regulators!
While doing anti-nuclear work a number of years ago now, I came across a book called Flirting with Disaster - Why Accidents Are Rarely Accidental, by Marc Gerstein with Michael Ellsberg … & a Foreword & Afterword by Daniel Ellsberg, who memorably says
“What Dr. Gerstein shows is that reasonable people, who are not malicious, and whose intent is not to kill or injure other people, will nonetheless risk killing vast numbers of people. And they will do it predictably, with awareness … They knew the risks from the beginning, at every stage … the leaders chose, in the face of serious warnings, to consciously take chances that risked disaster … Men in power are willing to risk any number of human lives to avoid an otherwise certain loss to themselves, a sure reversal of their own prospects in the short run.”
So. Long story short?
Boeing's safety culture is broken. It's been broken for quite some time now.
The FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) is much too cosy with the Boeing bigshots - & is not protecting the public the way it should be (nor is Transport Canada any more reliable).
The most shocking thing I've learned is that those big crashes in 2018 & 2019 were assuredly not caused by pilot error.
There may have been some underlying mechanical/electrical issues - but the bottom line is that control of the aircraft was largely in the hands of a software system (MCAS) that caused the planes to crash - basically forced them to crash
& that the pilots were not only not trained on this newer system
They didn't even know about it!
OMG. You can't make up stuff this insane.
In the podcast I just listened to, whistleblower Ed Pierson relates that the airline brass had been notified of underlying issues with the Boeing 737 planes - but chose to ignore the warnings.
All those people who died?
Their deaths could have been - should have been - prevented.
If Boeing's safety culture had been intact (instead of sliding downhill for years now), & if the FAA was an actual regulator.
What Can We Do?
First off, listen to the podcast!
Watch the documentary 'Downfall: The Case Against Boeing.' It's available on Netflix.
Whistleblower Ed Pierson recommends that, when you make your travel plans, you specify to the airline that you do not wish to fly on a Boeing 737 Max.
And, unfortunately, you may have to change your plans at the last minute, since sometimes flight changes are made without your being notified that the "equipment" (that's the language they use to describe the plane) the airline is using for your flight has been changed. Eternal vigilance!
Please don't shoot the messenger!
As whistleblower Ed Pierson (an incredibly smart, brave, principled, compassionate man, as becomes abundantly clear in the interview with Trish Wood) says, his motivation is not to scare people.
It's to inform them.
So please don't get annoyed with me for passing along a very "inconvenient” truth.
Just trying here to help y’all stay alive!
Ed Pierson & some of the survivors of those two big Boeing crashes in 2018 & 2019 work with The Foundation for Aviation Safety. Looks like very important work they’re doing!
Including Boeing, even, flying is statistically safer than walking down the street in a city.