Boeing’s Safety Under Scrutiny: Are Its Aircraft Still Reliable After Repeated Incidents?

KAKALI DAS

The recent crash of Air India Flight AI171 has raised serious concerns about the safety of Boeing aircraft and the responsibilities of both the airline and the aviation authorities.

The aircraft involved in this tragic incident was a Boeing 787 Dreamliner, which is a large, wide-body aircraft. It is known for being fast, fuel-efficient, and able to fly long distances without needing to stop for refuelling.

These features have made it one of the most popular wide-body aircraft in the world, with over a thousand units delivered over the last 14 years. Boeing even describes it as the bestselling wide-body aircraft ever.

This specific aircraft was about 12 years old. On the morning of June 12, 2025, it flew from Delhi to Ahmedabad. Later, it took off from Ahmedabad for its journey to London. Delhi is the main hub for Air India and also its key engineering base. This means that the aircraft should have gone through proper checks before it left for Ahmedabad.

However, the crash that occurred shortly after take-off from Ahmedabad was not an isolated incident. Boeing has been involved in several serious accidents and incidents over the past few years. This raises questions about whether the aircraft manufacturer and the airlines operating its planes are doing enough to ensure safety.

Let’s look at a few incidents involving Boeing aircraft over the last few years:

March 14, 2025, a Boeing 737 caught fire at Denver Airport in the U.S. Passengers had to stand on the wing while the engine was burning.

In May 2025, a Boeing agreed to pay $1.1 billion to settle with the U.S. Justice Department over two crashes involving the 737 Max aircraft. These crashes, which happened in Indonesia in 2018 and Ethiopia in 2019, killed a total of 346 people. The cause was found to be a faulty flight control system, which led to the grounding of the 737 Max fleet around the world.

In December 2024, A Boeing plane slid off a runway in South Korea and crashed into a concrete wall. The aircraft caught fire, and only two out of the 181 people onboard survived. A three-year-old child was among those who died.

In November 2024, a Boeing 737 lost control during landing in Lithuania and crashed into a house. One person died and three were injured.

Weeks earlier, another Boeing 737 carrying 78 people skidded off the runway into a bush at the airport in Senegal after catching fire.

In January 5, 2024, a door plug blew out mid-air on an Alaska Airlines Boeing aircraft while flying at 16,000 feet. This led to a rapid loss of air pressure, and the flight had to make an emergency landing.

These repeated incidents involving different types of Boeing aircraft have made many people question whether the company is prioritizing safety as much as it should.

Air India crash — Ahmedabad: Firefighting team at the spot after an Air India plane crashed moments after taking off from the Ahmedabad airport, Thursday, June 12, 2025. (PTI Photo)

Boeing has also faced several whistle-blower complaints, where former employees raised alarms about poor safety practices within the company.

One whistle-blower, Sam Salehpour, who worked as an engineer at Boeing for 17 years, said that parts of the 787 Dreamliner were not properly joined together. He warned that this could weaken the aircraft’s body. He also claimed that after raising concerns, he was fired and told to keep quiet.

Another former employee, John Barnett, worked as a quality control engineer and raised alarms about workers installing low-quality parts due to pressure to meet production deadlines. He even found issues in the aircraft’s oxygen system, suggesting that one in four emergency oxygen masks might fail during a crisis. Sadly, Barnett passed away later, and his family has filed a lawsuit saying that Boeing’s treatment caused his mental health to deteriorate.

Yet another person, Richard Cuevas, who was employed by a Boeing contractor, reported problems with how holes were being drilled in an important part of the aircraft. He said the work was not being done properly and that it could affect the aircraft’s safety. He also lost his job soon after raising these concerns.

After the door plug incident in early 2024, about a dozen other whistle-blowers came forward. One of them claimed that Boeing tried to hide faulty parts from government regulators.

Due to these reports and incidents, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which is the main aviation safety agency in the U.S., conducted a six-week audit of Boeing’s facilities. The findings were troubling. The audit found multiple safety gaps in Boeing’s manufacturing practices. It said there were problems in how Boeing was handling quality control and following safety procedures.

Still, Boeing has said it remains confident in the safety of the 787 Dreamliner. But given the number of problems, complaints, and accidents, it’s hard for the public to feel the same way.

The big question now is: Is there enough safety oversight? Who is responsible – Boeing, the airlines, or the authorities like India’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA)? In this case, Air India is the operator, and DGCA is responsible for safety checks in India.

The crash of Flight AI171 is being investigated by India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau. They will examine the aircraft’s black box, study the events leading to the crash, and determine whether it was an accident or a serious safety failure. This investigation will be under the Civil Aviation Ministry.

Until the results of the investigation come out, we are left with questions and grief. Boeing’s shares have dropped by around 8% since the crash, but this is not real punishment. Big companies usually have insurance to cover the cost of accidents. Their top executives are rarely held personally accountable. But the people who lost loved ones in the crash are the ones who will suffer for a lifetime.

They won’t be able to bring home a mother, father, child, or sibling ever again. Their pain is permanent. For them, insurance payouts or share prices don’t matter. What matters is why this happened and how such tragedies can be prevented in the future.

This is not just about one crash or one company. It’s about a system that must take passenger safety more seriously. We need better questions asked, and honest, transparent answers. Until that happens, the skies may look blue, but they won’t feel safe.

13-06-2025

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