Boeing 737 Accidents in Senegal, Turkey Raise Safety Concerns
On Thursday, a chartered Air Senegal Boeing 737-300 skidded off the runway during takeoff in Dakar, injuring 10 people. The same day, a Corendon Airlines 737-800 in Turkey needed to be evacuated after its tires burst during landing....
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Facts
- On Thursday, a chartered Air Senegal Boeing 737-300 skidded off the runway during takeoff in Dakar, injuring 10 people. The same day, a Corendon Airlines 737-800 in Turkey needed to be evacuated after its tires burst during landing.1
- These are the latest in a series of high-profile safety incidents that have plagued Boeing. In response, the US Federal Aviation Authority in February gave the company 90 days to come up with a plan to fix quality and safety issues.2
- In Senegal, an inquiry is underway into the cause of the skid, which led to four serious injuries and the evacuation of 78 passengers. The flight from Dakar to Bamako, Mali took off in the early morning; Boeing has not made comment.3
- The incident at Gazipasa Airport in Turkey led to the evacuation of all 190 on board and saw no injuries, with authorities saying the plane was left with minor damages after the tires burst on landing.4
- These incidents came one day after a FedEx Airlines Boeing 767 in Turkey needed to make an emergency landing after a landing gear malfunction.5
- In April, whistleblower Sam Salehpour testified to the US Congress that Boeing was cutting corners in production. The company has been under renewed scrutiny since a January incident where the door of a 737 Max blew out mid-flight.6
Sources: 1Al Jazeera, 2Associated Press, 3BBC News, 4Independent, 5New York Post and 6FOX News.
Narratives
- Narrative A, as provided by HBS Working Knowledge. Boeing, once a company with a sterling safety record, has undergone a pernicious shift that puts profit over people. The culture of engineering excellence that once made Boeing a trusted name has given way to profiteering at the expense of quality control and safety. Hundreds have died in Boeing crashes in recent years for the sake of short-term profits.
- Narrative B, as provided by Wall Street Journal. Boeing has shouldered all of the blame for incidents that could be due to operator error and negligence, with the narrative of corporate greed falling apart upon closer inspection. A focus on competition and profit since the '70s has led to aircrafts becoming safer overall, with outside pressures and fluke accidents leading to the witch hunt against the plane maker.
