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EU suspends Boeing 737 MAX flights, U.S. senators suggest similar move


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EU suspends Boeing 737 MAX flights, U.S. senators suggest similar move

By Duncan Miriri and Tim Hepher

 

2019-03-12T091836Z_1_LYNXMPEF2B0Q9_RTROPTP_4_ETHIOPIA-AIRPLANE.JPG

A page of a flight crew operations manual is seen at the scene of the Ethiopian Airlines Flight ET 302 plane crash, near the town of Bishoftu, near Addis Ababa, Ethiopia March 12, 2019. REUTERS/Baz Ratner

 

ADDIS ABABA/PARIS (Reuters) - The European Union's aviation safety regulator on Tuesday suspended all flights in the bloc by Boeing 737 MAX and the U.S. Senator who chairs a panel overseeing aviation suggested the United States take similar action following a crash in Ethiopia that killed 157 people.

 

Britain, Germany and France joined a wave of suspensions of the aircraft in the wake of Sunday's crash, and was swiftly followed by a similar decision by India, piling pressure on the United States to follow suit.

 

Boeing, the world's biggest planemaker, which has seen billions of dollars wiped off its market value the crash, said it understood the countries' actions but retained "full confidence" in the 737 MAX and had safety as its priority.

 

It also said the U.S. Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) had not demanded any further action related to 737 MAX operations.

 

The cause of the crash, which followed another disaster with a 737 MAX five months ago in Indonesia that killed 189 people, remains unknown.

 

There is no evidence yet whether the two crashes are linked. Plane experts say it is too early to speculate on the reason for the crash. Most are caused by a unique chain of human and technical factors.

 

In an unusual move, the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) said it was suspending all flights in the bloc of Boeing's 737 MAX 8 and 9 jets.

 

"Based on all available information, EASA considers that further actions may be necessary to ensure the continued airworthiness of the two affected models," it said in a statement.

 

However, it shied away from the even rarer step of pulling the safety certification for the plane itself, focusing instead on the softer process of restricting its use by airlines. The move leaves some leeway for the U.S. FAA to decide its own approach.

 

Flight ET 302 came down in a field soon after takeoff from Addis Ababa, creating a fireball in a crater. It may take weeks or months to identify all the victims, who include a prize-winning author, a soccer official and a team of humanitarian workers.

 

Boeing shares fell 6.1 percent on Tuesday bringing losses to 11.15 percent since the crash, the steepest two-day loss for the stock since July 2009. The drop has lopped $26.65 billion off Boeing's market value.

 

SENATE HEARING

The United States has said it remains safe to fly the planes but U.S. Senator Ted Cruz, a Republican who chairs the Senate subcommittee on aviation and space, said on Tuesday it would be "prudent" for the United States "to temporarily ground 737 Max aircraft until the FAA confirms the safety of these aircraft and their passengers."

 

Cruz said he intends to convene a hearing to investigate the crashes.

 

Two other senators, Republican Mitt Romney and Democrat Elizabeth Warren, called on the FAA to temporarily ground the 737 MAX.

 

President Donald Trump also fretted over modern airplane design.

 

"Pilots are no longer needed, but rather computer scientists from MIT," Trump tweeted, lamenting that product developers always sought to go an unnecessary step further when "old and simpler" was superior.

 

"I don't know about you, but I don't want Albert Einstein to be my pilot. I want great flying professionals that are allowed to easily and quickly take control of a plane!" he added.

 

He did not refer to Boeing or recent accidents, but his comments echoed an automation debate that partially lies at the center of a probe into October's Lion Air crash in Indonesia. Investigators are examining the role of a software system designed to push the plane down, alongside airline training and repair standards.

 

Boeing says it plans to update the software in coming weeks.

 

Trump, concerned about the Ethiopia crash, spoke to Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg on Tuesday and received assurances that the aircraft was safe, two people briefed on the call said.

 

China, Indonesia, Singapore, Australia, Malaysia and others have also temporarily suspended the 737 MAX.

 

The decision by some countries to ban not only arrivals and departures but flights crossing through their airspace surprised some regulatory sources even in regions banning the plane, since overflights are usually protected by international law.

 

VICTIMS FROM 30 NATIONS

Given problems of identification at the charred disaster site, Ethiopian Airlines said it would take at least five days to start handing remains to families.

 

The victims came from more than 30 different nations, and included nearly two dozen U.N. staff.

 

"We are Muslim and have to bury our deceased immediately," Noordin Mohamed, a 27-year-old Kenyan businessman whose brother and mother died, told Reuters.

 

"Losing a brother and mother in the same day and not having their bodies to bury is very painful," he said in the Kenyan capital Nairobi where the plane had been due.

 

Anxiety was also evident among some travelers, who rushed to find out from social media and travel agents whether they were booked to fly on 737 MAX planes.

 

If the black box recordings found at the Ethiopian crash site are undamaged, the cause of the crash could be identified quickly, although it typically takes a year for a full probe.

 

The new variant of the 737, the world's most-sold modern passenger aircraft, is viewed as the likely workhorse for global airlines for decades and 4,661 more are on order.

 

Over 40 percent of the MAX fleet has been grounded, Flightglobal said, though many airlines still use older jets.

 

Still, major customers including top airlines from North America kept flying the 737 MAX. Southwest Airlines Co, which operates the largest fleet of 737 MAX 8s, said it remained confident in the safety of all its Boeing planes.

 

Former FAA accident investigator Mike Daniel said the decision by regulators to ground the planes was premature. "To me it's almost surreal how quickly some of the regulators are just grounding the aircraft without any factual information yet as a result of the investigation," he told Reuters.

 

(Additional reporting by Reuters bureaux; Writing by Mark Potter and Alistair Bell; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne, Keith Weir and Grant McCool)

 

 

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-- © Copyright Reuters 2019-03-13
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47 minutes ago, webfact said:

Former FAA accident investigator Mike Daniel said the decision by regulators to ground the planes was premature. "To me it's almost surreal how quickly some of the regulators are just grounding the aircraft without any factual information yet as a result of the investigation," he told Reuters.

Actually, it is surreal how some puppets keep spouting such nonsense.

Aren't 350 people killed in two very similar accidents not enough?

As Mr Daniel should know, the "investigation" will take a year, at this rate that means another 2-3 accidents.

The simple fact that Boeing has been working on a SW update means that there is something wrong, or to be improved, and that should be reason enough to ground that model until the improvement is delivered.

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I’m kinda thinking it is the prudent thing to do untle the cause is known it’s also a win for Boeing even if proven it’s not their fault it makes them look better if that’s possible.another thing that’s troubling me reading about the changes made to mount the new engines seemed to move the (cog)aft an aircraft with an aft center of gravity is nearly impossible to fly we need to build aircraft with a basic natural stability so they are easyer to fly without the aid of computers again my deepest condolences to all involved

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2 hours ago, arithai12 said:

Actually, it is surreal how some puppets keep spouting such nonsense.

Aren't 350 people killed in two very similar accidents not enough?

As Mr Daniel should know, the "investigation" will take a year, at this rate that means another 2-3 accidents.

The simple fact that Boeing has been working on a SW update means that there is something wrong, or to be improved, and that should be reason enough to ground that model until the improvement is delivered.

 

It is a serious problem but you are making assumptions not based on fact. 

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Here's the 737 MAX's almost vertical takeoff at Farnborough air show. It's very impressive but adds weight to the opinion that the bigger and slightly forward relocated engines have changed the centre of gravity causing an upward pitch. Boeing's solution: software to automatically move the flaps (horizontal stabilisers) at the back of the plane to bring the nose down. But many pilots seem to be unaware of this feature in autopilot mode.

 

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Quote

Trump, concerned about the Ethiopia crash, spoke to Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg on Tuesday and received assurances that the aircraft was safe, two people briefed on the call said. 

 

At this point there is not a director of the FAA, like a lot of the government agencies, we have an acting FAA agency.   We have a plane that has been grounded in the majority of countries and many countries have even suspended over flight of this plane.   

 

The computer 'fix' for the non-existent problem was delayed by at least a month because of the gov't shutdown.   

 

Oh, and the person who the President wanted as the Director of the FAA-- his own pilot for his personal plane.   

 

The US used to be the Gold Standard of airline safety.   Not anymore.   

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The FAA is a bunch of bootlickers well aware of the need to protect Boeing. It's the NTSB that is the morally and ethical backbone of the airline industry that has improved safety for airline travelers around the world. 

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5 hours ago, webfact said:

Former FAA accident investigator Mike Daniel said the decision by regulators to ground the planes was premature.

I dunno about that 2 fatal crashes of the same type plane, where experienced pilots couldn't save the plane after reported something wrong.

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2 hours ago, Cryingdick said:

 

It is a serious problem but you are making assumptions not based on fact. 

     And, isn't that just what Boeing and the FAA are doing?  At this point, it's all assumptions--there are no hard facts on the cause of both accidents.  Assuming the planes are safe doesn't make them safe.  When lives are at stake, it's always wise to side with caution.

     Boeing has played this all wrong from the start, and every day they arrogantly drag their feet just makes it worse.  As I said in an earlier post, they should have been out in front of this from the get-go.  At this point they need to put in place a huge damage control effort--starting with grounding all 737 MAX planes and a statement saying they are committing all their resources to finding and correcting the cause of the accidents, accompanied by a big, public apology by the CEO for their initial inadequate and overly-unconcerned actions.   

 

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Can see owners of the 737 MAX 8 suing Boeing big time...

 

Apart from lost revenue, compensation to customers, parking/storage fees, collectively this is costing Boeing customers 10's of $millions a day.

 

No wonder Boeing's shares are in free fall.

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6 hours ago, Credo said:
Quote

Trump, concerned about the Ethiopia crash, spoke to Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg on Tuesday and received assurances that the aircraft was safe, two people briefed on the call said. 

 

At this point there is not a director of the FAA, like a lot of the government agencies, we have an acting FAA agency.   We have a plane that has been grounded in the majority of countries and many countries have even suspended over flight of this plane.   

 

The computer 'fix' for the non-existent problem was delayed by at least a month because of the gov't shutdown.   

 

Oh, and the person who the President wanted as the Director of the FAA-- his own pilot for his personal plane.   

 

Politics and grifting, waddya gonna do, eh?

I’m just glad no lives are at stake in these situations.

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One Australian aviation expert is certainly pulling no punches:

 

"An Australian aviation expert claims Boeing has blood on its hands over the recent fatal air accidents of Lion Air and Ethiopian Airlines...

… Hansford says Boeing's "arrogance" led to the deaths of hundreds of people, as the company didn't respond appropriately to safety concerns over the aircraft's anti-stall device, known as the Manoeuvring Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS)...

… "They tried to introduce this discretely and tell nobody about it. Even the big, sophisticated pilot unions in the US didn't know about this MCAS..."

https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/travel/2019/03/boeing-s-arrogance-caused-737-max-8-crashes-claims-aviation-expert.html

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Maria Chong (@mariachong)

3/13/19, 1:22 PM

⁦‪@vgr‬⁩ ⁦‪@benthompson‬⁩ WSJ is saying the software fix should have been completed in January but the government shutdown delayed the work. 

wsj.com/articles/boein…Image-1.thumb.jpeg.d153142d6c4e4905e65c2c4bf6da7553.jpeg

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18 hours ago, Cryingdick said:

 

It is a serious problem but you are making assumptions not based on fact. 

Fact:

US pilots reported problems with Boeing 737 MAX

At least four pilots made reports following the October crash of a Lion Air flight in Indonesia shortly after takeoff, all complaining that the aircraft suddenly pitched downward.


 

Fact:

Canada also grounded 737 MAX jets on Wednesday, saying satellite data suggested similarities to a previous crash involving the same plane model.

 

Both from Reuters. Also, apparently the US is preparing to ground this model as well.

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