I have a friend who, when she gets on a plane, I have been known to get a phone call from the cabin. She checks out the safety features, the amount of engines (two can looks pretty thin for such a large plane),  she’s a nervous flier and as such keeps an eye on safety to such an extent that she has confronted people that behave suspiciously on a flight. It works, she has always gotten to where she is heading.

The reason she calls me is because I had a child-hood passion for everything aircraft. I ask for the window seat on a flight and keep my nose pressed to it for most of the time, I marvel that we’re sailing so high, high over mountains, through the clouds. I also know a 777 from a B52, so Donna calls for advice.

The thing is that Donna will have recently been acutely aware of the problems affecting Rolls Royce. Airlines like Qantas will know that Donna is not alone, as will other airlines choosing configurations for fleets, as will aircraft manufacturers.

But is all as it seems? No, because other engine manufacturers seem to be having the same trouble. take a look at this article which seems to suggest others been suffering severe problems.

There are many suggestions as to why the problem is shared including the quality of fuel, terrorists gaining access to engine manufacturers etc.

And then there’s the darker side. Despite a statement from the engine manufacturers that they share a united front when it comes to safety and do not gloat about another’s fate, other people do stand to win from this and when they do it is BIG money. So who stands to gain from the Rolls Royce woes, have a read of this…

Where is the balance in this article and where is the balance in other reporting, even from the UK, the home of Rolls Royce. I have read articles in The Guardian about Rolls Royce defects, yet a search on ‘engine failure’ draws up no article mentioning anyone else.

So do we have a game of chess playing out here where it is not the safety of the skies we are talking about here, but the huge emerging markets and their thirst for engines to power the jets they’ll need.

But perhaps there is no malice on behalf of the competition, so put your pens away. Perhaps it is the simple fact that in Australia and The UK (where people would have emotional investment in Rolls Royce) the press aren’t really that jingoistic. If you look at the comments to the articles the general public are, but the reporting in The UK has to be seen as being ruthlessly balanced, even if that means it being to the detriment to what is one of the largest industries we have left.

So let’s have some balanced reporting out there. How many cases of engine trouble have there been on both sides and what is being done about it? Because, at the end of the day, I’d like Donna to fly not only safely, but with some peace of mind as well.