Boeing's safety controversy: Aeronautics expert dissects the airline's problems

While The Front Page is on summer break, we’re taking a look back at some of the biggest news stories and top-rated episodes from the podcast in 2024.   

It’s safe to say that in recent years, Boeing has gone through a patch of turbulence.  

In 2024 alone, we saw a door plug blow off mid-flight on an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 9 in January – while closer to home, a LATAM Airlines flight from Sydney to Auckland plunged mid-air, injuring at least 50 passengers. 

In October 2018, Lion Air Flight 610 crashed into the Java Sea in Indonesia with 189 people on board. It was a Boeing 737 MAX.   

 Barely five months later, an Ethiopian Airlines Boeing Max aircraft crashed, killing 157 people.  

One of those people was Graziella de Luis y Ponce, a United Nations interpreter.   

Her brother is Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics lecturer, Javier de Luis.  

He served on the US Federal Aviation Administration’s panel that reviewed Boeing’s safety practice last year.   

We spoke to Javier in March about what’s gone wrong, and what should change, at Boeing.  

New episodes return January 13th. 

Host: Chelsea Daniels
Audio Engineers: Paddy Fox, Richard Martin
Executive Producer: Ethan Sills

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