FlyWorld

I posted this same question here a few months ago.

If every observable aspect of this airline has been cut and trashed in a short-sighted attempt to save money and goose up near term profit numbers at the expense of long term viability, it is reasonable to ask if the same cuts are being made to safety and maintenance.

And, we know from posts in the interim that there has been a reported increase in deferred maintenance, which is considered to be the main reason for such a huge jump in MX cancels.

What does this tell us about the culture and priorities?

It is naive to suggest that we're all safe just because we trust the pilots. History is littered with graveyards of passengers, pilots, and crew who are now dead due to crashes that can be attributed to management incompetence that cut safety margins in the name of greed and resulted in otherwise avoidable fatalities.

Yes, we have the FAA, and we trust them, and I'm sure they're great, but they can't check everything and be everywhere.

And, yes, UA has great pilots, and those pilots surely won't fly a plane if they believe it's unsafe. But, not every unsafe condition can be observed by a pilot during pre-flight checks. The pilots also have to trust that the overall maintenance and safety systems are also functioning properly.

A perfect case study of all the above is AK 261. It happened then, it can happen again.

I truly hope we don't have to repeat that scenario. I know it's important for $mi$ek to get his bonus, but some costs are too high.