ROANOKE, Va. – A string of airline malfunctions isn’t stopping travelers from getting up in the air.
A United Airlines aircraft ran off the taxiway into a grassy area after landing in Houston on Friday, marking the third incident this week involving the carrier’s Boeing Co. planes.
10 News asked frequent fliers like Jason Hearne and new fliers like Eyan Knipp if the incidents changed their mind about getting on the plane.
“Of course anything that happens like that is going to give you pause to think about well something could happen. If you think about every flight that is taking place across the world day-in day-out. How many of these incidents are really taking place,” Hearne said.
“Absolutely. Like I said I’ve never flown before but I put full trust in the captain and just let it go from there,” Knipp said.
The incidents all fall on the week when ten years have passed since Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 went missing.
Virginia Tech Aerospace Engineering Professor, Ella Atkins, has learned much in the ten years since flight 370.
“We want to make sure that we don’t lose a commercial airliner again. We need to have every airplane that flies have a communications solution that is always active and never can turn off,” Atkins said.
While the incidents draw attention to the makeup of planes, experts still say flying is safer than driving.
“I’m not going to say that things are happening more often but if you look at the frequency, especially of fatal accidents, it’s really still not high,” Atkins said.
The push to find Flight 370 was revamped earlier in the week when those who lost loved ones in the incident pressed for the search to continue.