‘It’s just so dangerous’: The travellers who will, and won’t, fly on a Boeing 737 Max

By Megan DeLaire

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    TORONTO (CTV Network) — When Toronto-based lawyer Paul Miller saw an upcoming flight to Vancouver would be on a Boeing Max jet, he thought: “Oh hell no, I’m not going on that.” Then he cancelled the flight.

With Boeing under increased scrutiny thanks to a string of issues with its 737 Max airliners, some travellers, like Miller, say they’re taking steps to avoid flying in the company’s jets wherever possible.

Earlier this year, a door panel on an Alaska Airlines jetliner, a Max 9 model, blew out mid-air after takeoff from Portland, Ore. Reports suggest that bolts which help to keep the panel in place were missing after repair work at a Boeing factory. The incident left a gaping hole in the side of the fuselage.

United Airlines also reportedly found loose bolts on multiple 737 Max 9 planes in the days following Alaska’s panel incident.

Then, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) ruled that Boeing needs to address quality issues before the agency will allow more production, and Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun announced he will step down by year-end.

These incidents all come after 737 Max jets were involved in two fatal crashes – Lion Air Flight 610 in 2018, which killed 189 people, and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 in 2019, which killed 157.

Speaking at the Bank of America Global Industrials Conference on March 20, Boeing’s chief financial officer Brian West acknowledged the need for the manufacturer to make safety improvements at the production level.

“The events of Jan. 5 in Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 and everything we’ve learned since, we acknowledge that we need to improve upon safety and quality and conformance,” West said. “For years, we prioritized the movement of the airplane through the factory over getting it done right and that’s got to change.”

CTVNews.ca requested further comment from Boeing. A spokesperson for the company directed CTVNews.ca back to the statements made by West.

Miller, who represents the victims of plane crashes in mass torts and class-action lawsuits, is one of dozens of people who wrote to CTVNews.ca about how issues with Boeing’s 737 Max jets have influenced their travel behaviour.

Respondents include people who say they refuse to fly the 737 Max, and those who feel like they have no choice due to the limited options for air travellers in Canada. CTVNews.ca also heard from travellers who have no problem flying on Boeing’s 737 Max jets and feel the risk of encountering in-flight safety issues in the jets is minor. The emailed responses have not all been independently verified.

Among the cases Miller has worked on is the 2019 Ethiopian Airlines crash, attributed to an issue with the 737 Max’s Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS). He said his knowledge of cases like that one makes the decision to avoid the 737 Max easy for him. In Miller’s opinion, Boeing has cut too many corners with the 737 Max series to take chances.

After the Alaska Airlines door panel incident in January, the FAA launched a six-week probe into Boeing’s production of the 737 Max jet and found dozens of problems throughout the manufacturing process. Out of 89 audits the FAA conducted at Boeing’s plant in Renton, Wash., the company failed 33.

“When you’re clearly trying to cut corners and you have the ability to lobby the FAA or the NTSB (National Transportation Safety Board) in the United States to get around things, you’re putting your profits over your people,” he told CTVNews.ca in a phone interview on Tuesday, “and anytime you do that, it’s just so dangerous.”

Miller isn’t alone. Maariah Ramsey stated in an email to CTVNews.ca that she refused to take a flight booked by her employer from Vancouver to Toronto when she realized the aircraft for that flight would be a 737.

“The flights were limited as a majority of aircrafts used for this trip are 737’s, however we arranged an alternative trip,” she wrote.

Marc Owieczka, who lives in Montreal, was scheduled to fly to Florida this winter to join his wife on vacation, but cancelled the flight and rebooked with another airline using different aircraft when he realized he’d be boarding one of Boeing’s 737 Max planes.

“After the door (panel) blew off the Max (9) in Portland, I told my wife that if either of my flights were on any type of Boeing that I would change it,” he wrote in an email to CTVNews.ca. “I remembered reading a couple of Boeing stories and this one out of Portland was the last straw.”

Peter Pyszynski opted out of an upcoming trip with his wife to Iceland and Northern Europe when he realized the aircraft for one of their flights would be a 737 Max.

“Unfortunately my knowledge of Boeing mishaps … has prevented me from setting foot on this journey,” he stated in an email to CTVNews.ca. “It is for these reasons that I am providing a paid trip for one of my wife’s friends to go in my place so that she doesn’t miss out.”

Plenty of travellers are unconcerned about flying on the Boeing 737 Max jets. Although most of the people who contacted CTVNews.ca for this story wrote to express their apprehension, some reached out to say they don’t plan to avoid any Boeing aircraft over recent reports of issues with the Max jets.

“Me and my wife flew B737 to Vietnam. The fare was reasonable and (the) flight hours suited us. We will keep on flying 737,” Jin Pyeon wrote in an email to CTVNews.ca.

Gordon Allaby, from Waterloo, Ont., told CTVNews.ca he felt nervous when he realized an upcoming flight from New York City to Toronto would be on a Boeing 737, but decided the risk of a mishap is low enough to go ahead with the flight.

“I was hesitant at first, but concluded if the pilot is willing, then I will risk it too,” he wrote in an email. “Though I may be a bit nervous.”

Peter Hildebrand is a retired pilot who logged about 9,700 hours flying regional commercial routes in Winnipeg. Although he didn’t fly Boeing 737s or any of their later versions, such as jets from the Max series, he knows enough about the jets — and the industry — to feel comfortable travelling in one.

“There have been a few issues, of course, but there have been issues with just about every type of aircraft,” he told CTVNews.ca in a phone interview on Tuesday.

For one thing, he said, the number of 737s affected by manufacturing issues relative to the number flying every day seems small. Moreover, he said recently discovered issues with the door plugs and loose bolts shouldn’t affect the crew’s ability to safely manoeuvre the airplanes, and that both Boeing and the jets’ operators are aware of the issues and how to treat them.

“I think the manufacturer and every operator of these machines is likely to be pretty much on top of the things that have been found so far and trying to address them, so I would not hesitate to fly on one right now,” he said.

“On any given flight, there are many other factors that are going to affect the operation of the aircraft and the flight.”

Hildebrand said he takes reports of issues with the Boeing 737 Max jets with a grain of salt and reminds himself that most Boeing jets fly without issue.

“Let’s still keep things in perspective,” he said. “We’re not hearing about the number of flights safely completed, so a bit of balance is probably in order in these areas.”

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