Cloudy Ethics: Dilemmas in the Aviation Industry

The aviation industry must have a solid foundation of ethics.  A faulty foundation of ethics can lead to incidents resulting in catastrophic consequences, and loss of life or limb. Boeing has been having major concerns of ethical dilemmas since the 1980s, "Boeing has been punished for an equally long list of ethical and criminal transgressions. They ranged from illegally snaring restricted Pentagon planning documents to stealing a rival’s rocket development plans (Pasztor, 2024)."

Recently Boeing 737 Max had a cabin blowout that injured multiple passengers due to its obvious lack of quality control and integrity when it came to reporting defects or issues in its aircraft. Before this incident, 2 crashes of 2 Boeing 737 Max's resulted in the loss of 346 lives. It appears that over the years Boeing has been dodging their responsibility to maintain a high standard of products as well as taking accountability for the lack thereof.  "As a result, Boeing’s leaders didn’t fully embrace lessons learned from previous blunders. At this point, regulators, lawmakers, and passengers should question what in Boeing’s corporate DNA has mired it in severe quality control and legal troubles (Pasztor, 2024)."



In 2019 a whistle-blower by the name of John Barnett called out the company for its shady ethics on the production line for its aircraft. Calling out the company for multiple safety violations, John Barnett told BBC:

    that under-pressure workers had been deliberately fitting sub-standard parts to aircraft on the production line. He also said he had uncovered serious problems with oxygen systems, which could mean one in four breathing masks would not work in an emergency. He said soon after starting work in South Carolina he had become concerned that the push to get new aircraft built meant the assembly process was rushed and safety was compromised, something the company denied. He later told the BBC that workers had failed to follow procedures intended to track components through the factory, allowing defective components to go missing. He said in some cases, sub-standard parts had even been removed from scrap bins and fitted to planes that were being built to prevent delays on the production line (Leggett, 2024).

John Barnett was found dead on March 9th from a suspected self-inflicted wound.  



How can a company get away with such a lack of integrity, accountability, and so many ethical failures? Lives have been lost and are at stake when dealing with air travel. Just paying a monetary fine or a change in leadership can be enough, there has to be an overhaul in the ethical and moral culture of the company to ensure a high standard of quality control and corners are not being cut just to fill the demand for products. Ethics have to be true and steadfast, especially in aviation, many people depend on a company to ensure regulations and procedures are held to the highest standard.  

As an Air Traffic Controller, I am expected to operate at a very high standard because of the amount of lives under my "control" at one time. I expect the same quality of service and standard from Boeing and any other company. Integrity in my line of work is not taken lightly and you could be revocated (lose your credentials) due to loss of confidence from your Chain of Command and Commanding Officer. Trust has to be earned and once lost it is very hard or impossible to gain back. Professionalism is needed daily, our job is to provide expeditious customer service, I would expect the same from any business or company that I would do business with. Without professionalism, it would be like the Wild West, and I feel like nothing would be taken seriously. Respect for Rules and Regulations! Rules and Regulations in my line of work are written in blood, they were written for a reason most likely due to a loss of limb or life.  We must adhere to these rules without fail to ensure we are providing services to people that they deserve.



REFERENCES

Pasztor, A. (2024, January 22). Boeing's Manufacturing, ethical lapses go back decades. The Seattle Times. [URL]. https://www.seattletimes.com/opinion/boeings-manufacturing-ethical-lapses-go-back-decades/ 

Leggett, T. (2024, March 11). Boeing Whistleblower John Barnett found dead in US. BBC. [URL]. https://www.bbc.com/news/business-68534703 


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