Cledaybuck

Where did you get that number from? There were approximately 350 in service before the crash. If you figure 4 flights per day per plane, you get 1400 flights in just one day! At the pace, you get to 20,000 flights in about two weeks.

Cledaybuck

Yeah, well the US doesn't try to lead anymore. It just tries to bully others into doing what it wants. There is a difference.

MSPeconomist

RustyShackleford1

I can imagine other potential liabilities if someone took it personally that their loved one(s) was killed on an airplane that obviously should've been grounded. Can there really be any doubt about that now ? Almost every other nation in the world has done it; we are not special.

chenalex

worldwidedreamer

By Domestic ASMs Southwest is either the largest or second largest airline in the US, by emplaned passengers Southwest is the third largest airline, and by other metrics they are very very large.

Since flights commenced in 1971, Southwest has had a single passenger fatality---and one that as a layperson looks more like a design flaw than anything the pilot could have done differently.

Terrorism aside, United last had a fatality in 2009, American in 2000 and Delta in 1996. I fly all three airlines regularly, and feel that the most dangerous part of air travel is getting into a car that will take me to the airport. This said, I feel even more comfortable with WN pilots than most, and living near SFO with United Mechanics who have their biggest operating base at that airport.

While I'm not a pilot, it's hard to find any other airline in the world that operates on a similar scale with such a stunningly good safety record.

RustyShackleford1

I think crashes are so infrequent that it's tough to generalize about pilot competence just based on fatal incidents. I wonder what reported "incidents" look like among the major airlines ? What about other measures of pilots' training ?

Qantas ? I know, until not too long ago (as famously stated in "Rainman") that they had suffered ZERO fatal incidents, despite being (I think) the oldest airline in the world. Ok, maybe not the same scale as the big US carriers. And maybe less opportunity for mishaps, with typically very long flights and thus fewer takeoffs and landings per passenger mile. On the other hand, alternate airports are a lot sparser out in the Pacific Ocean :-)

worldwidedreamer

You confirm my point: Air travel is incredibly safe, and Southwest remains one of the safest airlines in the world. It's hard to make precise comparisons because every airline has its own operational history and constraints (e.g. WN still has not had a revenue ETOPS flight.)

steved5480

135pm CDT Trump babbling "live" now... Grounding -MAX flights in the USA

screeton

I am glad that the USA has finally and belatedly joined the rest of the world in grounding these planes until there is a better understanding of what caused the two crashes. From the beginning, the question should have been "What if these two are connected by some design or pilot training flaw?" Instead, the FAA for whatever reason subscribed to the "What if these are random events?" philosophy -- a totally indefensible position in this situation. Good that they are on the ground until we get answers. Bad that everyone else in the world led, while the USA followed as the last, foot-dragging country, and even then used it as a political grandstanding opportunity for someone rather than having the FAA -- the supposed experts in the field -- simply make an announcement that the grounding would take effect.

MSPeconomist

jmw

RustyShackleford1

So any thoughts about much chaos this will cause in Southwest's operations ? According to Wikipedia, they have 35 of the MAX aircraft out of a total fleet of 755 (a little shy of 5%).

Troopers

Justin026

So the passage of time from the accident to the grounding has been about 18 hours (in China) to about 80 hours (in the US) with other countries scattered in between. I realize we experience these things in "Internet time," but it has all happened in relatively short order. Now we can focus on discussing the coming reports of what happened and the possible/likely causes.