There are times when the sky seems closer than we would like. The Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 crash is one of them. A piece of a plane fell from 3000 meters, and with it our certainties about aviation safety also fell. But this story goes beyond a single accident: it is the story of how an aviation giant, Boeing, has put passengers' lives at risk in the name of profit.
If the sky becomes a battlefield
You know that empty feeling in your stomach you get during turbulence? Here, multiply it by a thousand and you will have an idea of what the passengers of Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 felt when they saw the door of the plane blown off, and witnessed the rapid decompression of the cabin. Emergency landing and near tragedy. An "accident" that reopened old wounds and raised new questions about aviation safety. But let's go in order, because this story has more layers than an onion and makes you cry even more.
Boeing is not just a company. It is a colossus, a titan of the aviation industry, a symbol of American engineering. Or at least, it was. In recent years, his reputation has plummeted faster than a plane without wings. Two fatal crashes for the 737 Max since 2018 e 2019, 346 lives lost, and now this. It's as if the King of Aviation showed up naked at the parade, revealing his vulnerability to everyone.
Tensions fly high
The real bomb exploded when the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) accused Boeing of fraud. Yes, you read that right: fraud. Not a miscalculation, not an oversight, but a deliberate action to deceive regulators.
The DoJ agreed not to prosecute Boeing if the company promised to pay a criminal fine of $243,6 million and enter into a trial period three-year program that included the implementation of a compliance and ethics program. But the Alaska Airlines crash prompted the DoJ to reopen the case and led Boeing to agree to plead guilty of the original charge and to pay an additional $243,6 million.
Boeing agreed to plead guilty to the original charge and pay an additional $243,6 million.
Now, $243,6 million may seem like a lot, but for a company like Boeing it's little more than loose change found under the couch. Is this the price of security?
Too big to fail, too dangerous to fly
The crux of the matter, at the end of the day, is only one: Boeing is too big to fail. The US government finds itself in an awkward position. On the one hand, you are dealing with a company that has admitted to committing a crime. On the other hand, this same company is critical to the economy and national defense.
The question that arises spontaneous is: has aviation safety become a luxury? An optional extra that we can only afford when it doesn't interfere with profits? Is security a negotiable issue? It's disturbing to think that while we worry about putting 100 ml of shampoo in a transparent bag, there are those who play with our lives at 10.000 meters above sea level.
Aviation safety is a flying circus
The airlines' reactions were a distressing mix of concern and detachment from reality. On the one hand, companies like Emirates have raised their voices threatening to send their engineers to control Boeing production. On the other hand, companies such as Ryanair have expressed “full support”.
It's as if in an apartment building, after discovering that the manager has stolen, some tenants want to kick him out, and others offer him a raise. And U.S? What can we passengers do? Well, prepare to pay more. Yes, because security has a cost, and guess who will end up paying it? Spoiler: it won't be Boeing.
The future is in our hands (if our hands are in our pockets)
Ultimately, we the passengers are the ones who literally put our skin on the line every time we get on a plane. And perhaps it's time for those at the top to put something on the line too. It's not just about justice, but about rebuilding that trust that seems to have been lost in the clouds.
While waiting (probably in vain) for the Boeing case to produce serious sentences, the unpleasant sensation remains that the capitalist system has produced another gigantic failure. A monster who decides for us how much the price is worth of our life.
