pdx1M

I don't think UA is unsafe and yes, at the moment I am still flying them. However, safety is a complex function of a lot of things which include sytems and culture. I am concerned that there is evidence that UA is not able to manage its systems reliably - that is troubling because if they can't manage the systems we can see there is at least some reason to believe that they may not be able to manage the systems we can't see any better. As to culture, it has been proven many times in many places over the years that one of the biggest issues for safety is a culture of open communications and listening to "outlier" opinions. Again, the only thing we have from outside looking in is what we can see and what we can see is a management that seems to have a tin ear on issues that they don't want to address. Does this tin ear extend to internal processes that could impact safety - no evidence but again troubling. I have absolute confidence in the pilots and staff at UA - that is in no question. Besides - pilots arrive at accidents before anyone else and so have ultimate motivation for safe operations. But in the larger context safety is the product of the entire operation and management and there are certainly indicators that this management team operates in other areas in ways that would not be safety enhancing if that was how they operated in the safety arena. We can only hope (and I do) that they really are bipolar here - operating customer visible things in a closed, non-communicative manner while continuing to run an open, safety encouraging culture where that is needed.