The commenter I replied to is asserting that a regression in safety is the natural order of things, and this is in response to article alleging systemic dysfunction on the part of Boeing.
I wanted to know what statistical basis he's working from, because the phenomenon he describes is not at all self-evident, not when airline safety has been solid for decades. That we just recently had the lowest annual crash-fatality count, in a decade that is arguably the safest decade in history of passenger travel, undercuts his claim. Unless he thinks the Boeing crashes are the harbinger of this inevitable safety regression.
I don't understand your comment if it's meant to be a rebuttal to me. The fact that after 2017's record safe year, hundreds of airliner passengers have in crashes involving new Boeing airliners, is support for the NYT article's thesis that Boeing is to blame. Not just, "shit happens as things get better".
I don’t have a particular opinion one way or the other on the idea that safety tends to revert. But given the past couple of years, I see why someone might think it is starting to revert.
Yes, people thinking there might be a regression in airline safety is the entire basis of the article. The main factors for that regression, particularly with respect to Boeing's record, is what's being debated.
2018 saw a couple hundred deaths in jet crashes.
Where does one get the idea that airline safety is regressing? Well....