Questions about flight safety have been the focus as another Boeing 737 Max 8 plane crashes soon after departure, resulting in two similar tragedies with the same Boeing plane within 5 months. The first occurrence took place off the coast of Indonesia on Lion Air Flight 610 on 29 October 2018, while the second incident occurred shortly after leaving Ethiopia's capital on Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 on 10 March 2019. In both accidents, all passengers were killed (1).
The potential connections of the two crashes garnered international concern, even though the causality has yet to be proven. Several aviation authorities and airlines have grounded 737 Max 8 planes. As of the publication of this article, the primary exception is the United States' (U.S) Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and U.S. based airlines, like American Airlines and Southwest (2). The Boeing 737 Max is the fourth generation of the Boeing 737 planes, design and produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. It gained FAA certification in 2017 and quickly became a huge success with 5,011 firm orders around the world (3).
Should dentists be concerned about their next flights on the Boeing 737 Max? This debate will affect dentists who need to travel to their continuing education courses. Check below to see if your North American flight route includes the 737 Max (keep in mind that even if your destination flight is not affected that your return flight could be the plane in question):
American Airlines (4)
- Miami (MIA) – New York LaGuardia (LGA)
- Miami (MIA) – Boston (BOS)
- Miami (MIA) – Bridgetown, Barbados (BGI)
- Miami (MIA) – Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago (POS)
- Miami (MIA) – Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic (SDQ)
- Miami (MIA) – Orlando (MCO)
Southwest
- Las Vegas (LAS) – Houston Hobby (HOU)
- Washington Dulles (IAD) – Denver (DEN)
- Milwaukee (MKE) – Phoenix (PHX)
- Nashville (BNA) – Phoenix (PHX)
- Dallas Love Field (DAL) – Denver (DEN)
- Denver (DEN) – Sacramento (SMF)
Air Canada
- Vancouver (YVR) – Calgary (YYC)
- Vancouver (YVR) – Honolulu (HNL)
- Montréal (YUL) – Los Angeles (LAX)
- Vancouver (YVR) – Kahului, Maui (OGG)
- Montréal (YUL) – San Francisco (SFO)
- Vancouver (YVR) – Montréal (YUL)
References
1. Two Boeing 737 Max 8 Flights End in Tragedy: Could They Be Linked? (n.d.). Retrieved from http://fortune.com/2019/03/12/boeing-737-max-8-plane-crashes/
2. Isidore, C. (2019, March 12). The world is grounding 737 MAX planes. Why isn't Boeing? Retrieved from https://www.cnn.com/2019/03/12/business/boeing-max-737-grounding/index.html
3. "Boeing Commercial Airplanes – Orders and Deliveries – 737 Model Summary". boeing.com. Boeing. October 2018. Retrieved November 21, 2018.
4. Genter, J., & Genter, J. (2019, March 11). How to Tell If You're Flying on a Boeing 737 MAX. Retrieved from https://thepointsguy.com/news/737-max-operators-ethiopian-crash/
2 comments
Update for 03/13/2019: Canada grounded all Boeing 737 Max planes this morning. And Trump announced earlier this afternoon that the U.S. will halt all flights too.
In the author’s opinion, the Boeing 737 Max 8 planes are most likely reliable and safe mechanically. This is why the FAA and U.S.-based airlines are so confident in keeping them airborne. The accidents may be related to pilot error where the lack of training and experience may be involved in a new plane with unfamiliar controls and sensors.