Although more diversions and emergency landings have been reported in the media since the door plug explosion, some experts say this incident is not unusual.
SEATTLE — The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating after a “possible fire” occurred at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport on May 6. The FAA said the Delta plane’s ground power supply may have caused the fire while it was parked at the gate. It happened just one day before an Air France plane was diverted due to technical problems.
Official public data sources do not track all air travel incidents of this type, and diversions can occur for a variety of reasons, such as weather or ill-mannered passengers, so it is important to identify certain trends. Although difficult to define, some experts say they have never seen data like this: Increase.
Scott Hamilton is the Founder and Managing Director of Leeham Company, LLC, which provides consulting, intelligence and analytics services within the aviation industry. He also writes an aviation blog and closely follows his trends. He says he has yet to see any data sources that show a clear upward trend in aviation accidents. Rather, we saw events that were already happening being reported in the media and amplified on social media.
“These incidents are gaining more attention through social media, and because the internet is available 24/7, the media has to fill their web pages with content, and they do,” Hamilton said. “Frankly, I think Boeing is getting an unfair and bad reputation right now because there are incidents that happen about Boeing planes that have nothing to do with the company Boeing. However, there is a possibility that it was an Airbus plane. [when] Boeing, Boeing becomes the headline. ”
NBC News also interviewed experts who looked into air travel accidents focused on safety and found a downward trend in fatalities and no trend toward an increase in safety incidents.
The FAA tracks information about certain types of incidents involving misbehaved passengers and documents incidents under investigation.
