I’m a pilot: the real risk is your journey to the airport
Former RAF and BA airman Martin Chalk says worries about Boeing are unfounded
If it’s (not) Boeing, I’m not going.” Recent events have resulted in the removal of that key word when repeating the long-time slogan. As a retired pilot, I am often asked what I think of the various aircraft, such as the Boeing 737 Max, and their variants and, specifically, if I am still happy to fly on them as a passenger.
I flew for nearly 40 years with the RAF and British Airways, before retiring as the pandemic virtually shut down the industry. During those 40 years, my favourite aircraft was a Boeing – the 747 or “Jumbo”. It was comfortable and quirky, with a surprisingly small cockpit. I flew the fourth iteration, the 747-400 series. Some aspects were modern, such as TV screens instead of the round instruments, while others survived from much earlier models – such as the plumbing.
Both prior to, and following, my 11 years on the Jumbo, I flew Airbus aircraft – the A320 family around Europe and, subsequently, the
A380 “Superjumbo”.
These are both “fly-by-wire” aircraft, where the pilots’ commands are interpreted by flight control computers before being transmitted to the plane’s control surfaces. This means the computers can limit pilot actions.
Despite some misgivings from pilots when this system was first introduced, it has proven to be effective and safe.
Fatal accidents on commercial passenger jets are now extremely rare. In both 2017 and 2023 there were none, among more than three billion passenger journeys a year. However, the Boeing 737 Max has caused a headache for airlines. The 737 Max was grounded worldwide on 13 March, 2019, after two crashes, before flights were resumed in December 2020. It has since had incidents such as the door plug that blew off from an Alaska Airlines plane this January.
So back to that original question – what do I think of flying on a 737 Max? Worrying about flight safety as a passenger is like a smoker worrying about the difference between butter and margarine – your journey to the airport carries significantly more risk than your flight, no matter which plane you are flying on.