Are Boeing Planes Safe?

By Evan K. & Dylan R.
Published May 3, 2024

On January 5, 2024 a plug door fell off a 737 MAX 9 causing the cabin to depressurize. Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 was going to Ontario, California. The cabin depressurized  meaning there was no air in the cabin because that was over 10,000 feet high. When a plane's cabin depressurizes oxygen masks drop and the pilot quickly gets the plane under 10,000 feet because there is oxygen in the air when less than 10,000 feet high. 

When this door broke out, Although nobody was killed or severely injured, one boy had to go to the hospital because he got too close to the door, causing enough force to pull his shirt out of the plane. In 2018 and 2019, two 737 MAX 9s went down resulting in 346 casualties. The 737 MAX 9 was grounded by the FAA for over 1 year, and then was released only to have another accident on January 5, 2024 - the plug door incident. The plane was grounded for another 1 week because of this. 

There were two responses to this airplane situation. One was that the 737 MAX 9 situations are perfectly safe, and the second response was that the 737 MAX 9 should be talked about and is a little unsafe. 

The last fatal airplane crash in the U.S. was in 2009 with 49 fatalities. The aircraft was a De Havilland Canada Dash 8 aircraft, and it was a prop plane. 

Perfectly Safe, by Evan K.

I believe that this issue is just something that received a lot of attention. After all, 1,500 car crashes happen every day and are not talked about. In the last 10 years there have been 49 fatalities due to plane incidents in the U.S., but in the last ten years there have been 12 million fatalities from car accidents. In fact, it is more dangerous driving to the airport than actually being on the plane. Plane crashes get a lot of attention. The door incident is not Boeing's fault its Spirit AeroSystems' fault who built the door . Apparently not just the door but other issues have come up with Spirit AeroSystems. Although this was an unfortunate event, every time something like this happens, it forces both Boeing and Spirit AeroSystems to check their planes and systems so that issue will not happen again. 

Planes are Unsafe, by Dylan R. 

I believe the 737 MAX 9 should be looked at from a mechanical perspective to find the problem and fix it. The question is: Is the 737 MAX 9 safe anymore because of its possible manufacturing malfunctions? It was a good choice to ground the aircraft because the last thing we want is losing this kind of transportation forever because of these events over the last 50 years. I believe we should have engineers fix this problem of the door and make it more safe before we have to put them in the sky and have another possibly dangerous event. 

Overall, planes are one of the safest kinds of transportation. but if you don’t think planes are safe then read the safety note included on your flight. If you still don't feel comfortable then travel a different way but remember,  it may be safer to fly than drive for even a few minutes.