Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

posted by chromas on Thursday March 14 2019, @06:02AM   Printer-friendly

U.S. Grounds Boeing Planes, After Days of Pressure

After days of mounting pressure, the United States grounded Boeing's 737 Max aircraft on Wednesday, reversing an earlier decision in which American regulators said the planes could keep flying after a deadly crash in Ethiopia.

The decision, announced by President Trump, followed determinations by safety regulators in some 42 countries to ban flights by the jets, which are now grounded worldwide. Pilots, flight attendants, consumers and politicians from both major parties had been agitating for the planes to be grounded in the United States. Despite the clamor, the Federal Aviation Administration had been resolute, saying on Tuesday that it had seen "no systemic performance issues" that would prompt it to halt flights of the jet.

That changed Wednesday when, in relatively quick succession, Canadian and American aviation authorities said they were grounding the planes after newly available satellite-tracking data suggested similarities between Sunday's crash in Ethiopia and one involving a Boeing 737 Max 8 in Indonesia in October.

Previously: Second 737 MAX8 Airplane Crash Reinforces Speculation on Flying System Problems

Related: Boeing 737 MAX 8 Could Enable $69 Trans-Atlantic Flights


Original Submission

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
  • (Score: 2) by MostCynical on Thursday March 14 2019, @07:30AM

    by MostCynical (2589) on Thursday March 14 2019, @07:30AM (#814102) Journal

    There have been other crashes where autopilots were "on" and thought to be off, or off when thought to be on, or something inbetween.
    https://www.wired.com/story/boeing-737-max-8-ethiopia-crash-faa-software-fix-lion-air/ [wired.com]

    A software fix could be enough.
    separately, pilots have been comolaining the aircraft checklists are awful.

    --
    "I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
    Starting Score:    1  point
    Karma-Bonus Modifier   +1  

    Total Score:   2