When issues are repeatedly found for years the question is not whether a few planes with loose bolts are still safe in theory, but how many other issues weren't discovered yet that may be far worse. This isn't just a single mistake that could happen to anyone and it's clearly not limited to a single category of flaws - if they messed up with tightening bolts, messed up the software and also forgot tools in fuel tanks etc, in what areas can Boeing still be trusted?
Look at the data. Over more than 22 years of flying in the U.S. we've seen one fatality aboard a major carrier. That one, single fatality was caused by an entire engine rapidly disassembling itself mid-flight. The engine mostly—but sadly not entirely—contained this failure. That engine was not designed or built by Boeing, but by CFM.
The next prior fatality aboard a major carrier was when an Airbus A300 crashed on takeoff in Nov 2001, killing on on board. The pilot overreacted on the controls, causing catastrophic failure of the vertical stabilizer.
The last time we saw a fatality in the U.S. due to a design and/or engineering error of a Boeing plane was in 1996 when a 747's center tank exploded due to a short circuit. Globally, Boeing and Airbus don't have meaningful differences in their track record of safety. Both have had experinced design and engineering flaws. Both have worked to fix those flaws.
Should we accept the ongoing regulatory capture in the U.S.? Of course not. Should we continue to hold these companies accountable for improving their designs every time an incident like this happens? Of course, and we do.
