A Delta Air Lines passenger flying from Salt Lake City to Amsterdam on Sunday was excited to discover that the aircraft operating her flight was an Airbus A330neo or, more to the point, it wasn’t a Boeing.
After all, Boeing’s recent safety record is certainly a cause for concern. There’s even evidence that nervous flyers have been actively avoiding flying on Boeing airplanes in recent months, prompted mostly by the Alaska Airlines mid-cabin exit plug blowout in January, which temporarily grounded some 737MAX aircraft.
Since the explosive blowout on Alaska Flight 1282, media attention has highlighted multiple issues with Boeing-made aircraft, which could wrongly give the impression that nothing ever goes wrong with aircraft made by European aircraft manufacturer Airbus.
KUTV CBS anchor Heidi Hatch said she was “excited” to be flying on an Airbus airplane from Salt Lake City to Amsterdam just because it wasn’t a Boeing aircraft—that is, until the plane’s engine inspection panel was found on the runway shortly after takeoff.
It’s not yet known why, exactly, the engine inspection panel detached from the side of one of the A330neos Trent 7000 engines, but when the pilots were informed, they decided it would be safer to immediately return to Salt Lake City rather than flying across the Atlantic with the panel missing.
“Turns out all jets are the same,” Heidi wrote in a post on social media site X as the plane returned to Salt Lake City. But what Heidi thought might be a relatively quick fix turned out to be anything but, and after Delta Flight 57 safely landed back exactly where it started, the passengers were told they wouldn’t be going anywhere in a hurry.
In fact, Heidi and the other passengers lost an entire day in Amsterdam after the flight was rescheduled for the following day. Not, however, on the four-year-old Airbus A330-900 aircraft that lost the engine inspection panel during takeoff.
In fact, that aircraft (registration: N405DX) remains on the ground in Salt Lake City two days after the accident and isn’t currently scheduled to operate another flight.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is investigating the circumstances surrounding the accident, while Delta has apologized to the customer on Flight 57 for the delays in their journey.
In a statement, a Delta spokesperson told us: “Delta flight 56 from Salt Lake City to Amsterdam safely returned to SLC due to a reported mechanical issue. We apologize to our customers for the delay in their travel and are working to get them to their destinations as quickly as possible.”
That kind of comment harms the credibility of TV journalists when they make wild statements like Airbus good, Boeing bad. What crashed in the Atlantic between Rio and Paris? Airbus. What crashed after 9/11 near JFK? Airbus (AA A300-600). What crashed landed into the Hudson as US1549? Airbus.
Airbus and Boeing are reputable. Both can have problems.
Or not…
Hi Derek. Absolutely. After the Lion and Ethiopian crashes i am also weary flying in a Boeing. But i can not see that a lot of journalists rely on his reporting when he does not know the difference between an incident and an accident. Obviously the plane would not be utilized until the investigation into the INCIDENT has been concluded or at least till tje evidence is obtained. Felt the media was on a witch hunt cos every day you look at the news some new incifeny occurred involving a Boeing of which the majority was in any case coy maintenanve related an not Boe8ngs error
The Airbus in the Hudson hit birds that took out both engines. The Airbus out of Rio was 90% pilot error as was the Airbus 300 out of NY. Not saying AB is safer but put the blame where it belongs…. Not necessarily on the manufacturer.
both have their own issues of sorts, Boeing just has had several happen close together recently so it makes them look worse. trust me, they aren’t.
almost makes me think that these are the same people who blame the pilots in crashes that happened due to something wrong with the aircraft
Zed, boeing are a lot worse because the problems run deep into the organisational culture, and the recent “natural death” of a whistleblower points to what extent corporates may go to silence criticism. Boeing’s issues were even downplayed after the lion air crash and they even tried to place the blame on ET pilots lack of aptitude after the ET crash. That is disgusting to say the least
Airbus or Boeing? The real culpability should lie in the Airlines mechanics and their scheduled maintenance checks. Airlines and their mechanics have to do a better job than just change oil and tires when the plane lands. Stop blaming the builder and start sharing blame and put it where it belongs. If it is not fit to fly the mechanics can write it down and it will not fly. Better inspections and better checks by the mechanics. But, that’s one person’s opinion.
I was military aviation, licensed civil aviation. Walked away, glad I am out. No accountability, asked to sign off bad or shoddy work too many times. Closed door magagement, deaf ears, predjudice, favoritism, buddy systems, no job security, good people getting beat up or leaving while bad people get promoted, too many to list. Corporate hanky panky, coverups, see ya’, wouldn’t wanna be ya’! Aviation today, I will not fly on a plane or again attempt to repair one. Beat a dead horse long enough, he comes back to life and runs out the door!
It’s about time to stop blaming mechanics for some insidious approach and give them the respect they deserve. Upper management would rather promote themselves with millions of packages while paying the mechanics peanuts.
After all Mercedes mechanics makes more money than aircraft mechanics. Until this approach of respect and quality of maintenance is appreciated by management, these ongoing incidence would continue.
Another factor to consider is safety and well-being of mechanics. If the FAA and other rules of fatigue can be afforded pilots to resting after or before going on a flight, same approach should be given to mechanics under severe circumstances. CAA respect mechanics and its subsidiary overseas than FAA mechanics in the US. Aircraft is becoming increasingly complicated by the day, than to think mechanics are grease monkeys. Enough said, I could go on but stop for now. My thoughts!