Breaking: All Planes Everywhere Have Crashed

DEI suspected as culprit in literally every incident.

I have three general certificates - a BA in Sociology, an (well we're still waiting for the paperwork) MA in clinical psychology, and for some reason a Cambridge CELTA degree. I hate teaching English grammar.

Anyway, I am not an expert on anything related to aviation, airplanes, airports, really anything with the name air in it. But it is a the hobby of mine I spend hours reading, listening, and otherwise paying attention.

I'm going to frame this as a misinformation issue, not an engineering one - both so I can say I'm qualified on it, and because there is a LOT of misinformation out there when it comes to aviation right now.

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A good friend recently asked, in short parlance: “what the hell is up with the airplanes.” As in is there something going on. Some call it conspiracy. Others call it DEI (not to mention that most of these recent occurrences happened across the world. So here was my answer to him:

I think the answer is statistically, likely there is an increase in what in the technical world is called “whoopsies”. In terms of yearly fatalities, we're still at like peanuts compared to the 60s and early years of flying. So if you want to stop reading here: flying is still statistically almost literally infinitely safer than driving.

Another thing is the media frenzy. Because that is definitely what it is. Fun fact: I was in a runway run over in 2003. Barely made the local news. In fact I’ve been looking for the clip for years because it’s super cute - after interviewing me, they asked me for my name and I got so nervous I forgot how to spell it and had to go run ask my parents how to spell it. I was born for the the screen. I'll put the story in at the end. These days everything is recorded, reported by everybody everywhere. That's honestly my biggest caution. Just don't listen to the news. And as someone who knows nothing about aviation, let me tell you, the average media knows nothing about aviation.

As for what's going on now, it's a combination of all things. But it’s important to keep in mind is that it’s one thing. Boeing scandal vs Korean airport overrun vs Toronto landing flip vs Azerbaijan shoot down, etc. etc. they're all involve planes but are otherwise completely related to entirely different things, from weather to technology production to pilot training to how trigger happy Chechens get to why they built a concrete barrier at the end of a Korean runway.

As an aside, the Boeing MCAS thing was.... honestly not as cut and dry as it sounds. Yes they were shifty about how they implemented it in terms of not telling the customers, but the thing is there is s procedure runaway trim (which is the problem it caused) so when people say it's racist to blame the pilots... I have heard very credible people say that American trained pilots wouldn't have crashed those planes. But I'm also not saying Boeing are the good guys. The Boeing quality control thing is real, but it's more of a PR thing than a real safety issue.

Azerbaijan… I mean they straight up shot that plane down like a Dick Cheney with a shotgun. What happened in Toronto with the flipped plane is absolutely insane and I still don't know what happened or even more baffling how everyone survived. But the thing people aren't focusing on is that airplane tech is so good that that plane flipped over and smashed into the ground and everyone survived. That is actually a comfort.

My honest answer is the biggest problem is overwhelmed airport/air traffic control bc of the amount of close call incursions (idk if you saw that I think it was also Toronto a plane lined up to land on the wrong runway and almost smashed into 3 waiting fully loaded airliners and it was only one of the pilots on the ground who screamed "GO AROUND" that stopped the worst aviation incident ever. I think the biggest focus should be on communication by and near airport spaces, both ground and air.

So like.... There's shit going on, but honestly, I'd say it's more of a media frenzy. Conservatives are claiming that DEI hiring has somehow caused this which is so stupid that is…. I won't even get into it. Just show me one instance where instead of institutions, systems, training, mechanics, etc. a person's race or gender was somewhat responsible, then we'll talk. (Hint: you won't and we won't)

That being said, I think if you look at a chart of various things - hull losses, close calls, fatalities, collisions, etc. The last year will have a minor spike. So yes I do understand being a little more scared. That's natural.

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Now for my story. My mom, dad and I were flying from Hartford, Connecticut to Cleveland, Ohio. Some smaller Embraer plane - if you wanna know so bad, look it up yourself (it actually says in the report if you scroll down). There was a snowstorm and they were about to close down our landing strip. Still, we landed, landing gear snapped, we went off the runway, through some structures and stopped like 30m from the highway.

I remember looking out the window and seeing this mix of mostly snow/blanket and then sparks and pieces of shit flying by and the thing in my head was I "knew" the airport was ahead of us so I was just waiting for the impact. Of course I didn't know we mostly went through some like basic light/radio gear and were headed toward the highway instead, so no real risk of hitting the building. Then everything just stopped and we looked around and the worst thing that happened was some asshole who didn't buckle his seatbelt and broke his knee. Of course, risk of fire, so we had to be foamed down, etc..

But yeah. That's the story. Barely made the local news.

This is pretty much all you’ll ever find about it. Back then our planes crashed, we brushed it off, and went about our day.

That being said, I still wouldn’t want to be a Boeing whistleblower because of the increased risk of suicidal ideation. But that’s a story for another day.

Leave a comment and tell me it was DEI. I dare you. I’m begging you.