An aviation attorney has commented on recent incidents involving Boeing aircraft, stating that the blame may not solely lie with Boeing but also with the airlines themselves. In the past few months, there have been multiple mishaps with Boeing planes, raising concerns about safety.
One incident involved a tire coming off a United Airlines Boeing 777-200 during takeoff from San Francisco International Airport, damaging cars in a parking lot. The attorney attributed this to a potential maintenance error by United Airlines rather than a Boeing issue.
Another United Airlines plane, a Boeing 737-800, landed in Medford, Oregon, with a missing external panel. The attorney suggested that this was also likely a maintenance problem on the airline's end.
However, a more serious incident occurred when a door plug blew off a Boeing 737 Max 9 mid-flight in January. An aerospace engineer identified this as a manufacturing defect, indicating a failure in Boeing's internal policies and procedures.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) found that key bolts from the door plug were missing and unrecovered. An investigative hearing is scheduled for early August to further examine the incident.
The attorney criticized the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for being understaffed and overworked, suggesting a dual policy of balancing safety and economics. Despite these concerns, he expressed confidence in the safety of airline travel, believing that both the FAA and Boeing will address the issues in due time.
