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https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-47536502Boeing: UK joins wave of countries grounding the 737 Max
1 minute ago
The UK's Civil Aviation Authority (CAA)
has banned the Boeing 737 MAX
from operating in or over UK airspace "as a precautionary measure".
The decision comes after an Ethiopian Airlines plane crashed on Sunday,
killing 157 people on board. It was the second fatal accident involving the 737 Max 8 model in less than five months.
The UK joins Singapore, China, Malaysia and Australia, in grounding the jets.
However, US officials say the aircraft are still safe to fly.
In a move that was welcomed by British pilots
In a statement, it said it took the decision because
it did not currently have "sufficient information"
from the flight data recorder about the fatal crash.
Tui Airways and Norwegian both operate the Boeing Max 8 in the UK as part of their fleets.
One Turkish Airlines flight to Birmingham has been turned around and
is on its way back to Istanbul.
Who is flying, and who has grounded, the 737 Max 8?
A Tui statement confirmed their 737 Max 8 aircraft were grounded.
"Any customers due to fly home today on a 737 MAX 8
from their holiday will be flown back on another aircraft," it read.
"Customers due to travel in the coming days
will also travel on holiday as planned on other aircraft."
Norwegian said it had also suspended flights
of the aircraft and apologised for the inconvenience to passengers.
Which other countries are affected?
The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has declared the 737 Max 8 airworthy.
But the largest operator of 737 Max 8s in America, Southwest Airlines,
is offering passengers scheduled to fly
on one of the Boeing planes the chance to change their bookings.
Rival American Airlines said its "standard policies for changes still apply".
Boeing has confirmed that for the past few months it has been developing a "flight control software enhancement" for the aircraft.
In the aftermath of the accident in Ethiopia,
Singapore, China, Australia, South Korea and Malaysia
have all temporarily suspended the 737 Max.
Singapore's Changi Airport is the world's sixth busiest and a major hub connecting Asia to Europe and the US,
but only a handful of airlines operate the Max 8 aircraft in and out of the country.
No Australian airlines operate the Boeing 737 Max,
and only two foreign airlines - SilkAir and Fiji Airways -
fly the model into the country.
The Boeing 737 Max fleet of aircraft are the latest in the company's successful 737 line.
The group includes the Max 7, 8, 9 and 10 models.
By the end of January 2019, Boeing had delivered 350 of the Max 8 model out of 5,011 orders.
A small number of Max 9s are also operating.
The Max 7 and 10 models, not yet delivered,
are due for roll-out in the next few years.
The Max 8 that crashed on Sunday was one of 30 ordered as part of Ethiopian Airlines' expansion.
It underwent a "rigorous first check maintenance" on 4 February 2019, the airline said.
Following last October's Lion Air crash in Indonesia,
investigators said the pilots had appeared to struggle
with an automated system designed to keep the plane from stalling, a new feature of the jet.
It is not yet clear whether the anti-stall system was the cause of Sunday's crash.
Aviation experts say other technical issues or human error cannot be discounted.
Eyewitnesses say they saw a trail of smoke, sparks and debris as the plane nosedived.
.With the decision by European authorities,
roughly two-thirds of the 737 Max 8 aircraft in the world
have been pulled from use since an Ethiopian Airlines plane crashed on Sunday, killing 157 people.
One country holding back: the United States
The investigation of the Ethiopia crash is in its initial phases,
as the authorities analyze the plane’s flight-data and cockpit-voice recorders.
The F.A.A. said on Monday that it would examine the data from the Ethiopia crash and act as necessary.
But the agency added that it was too early to make a determination about what caused the fatal accident and
cautioned against making comparisons to an October crash in Indonesia involving a Lion Air flight.
On Tuesday, Canada’s transport minister affirmed his position that
Canada would not ground the planes until investigators determined the cause of the crash on Sunday.
The Canadian transport minister, Marc Garneau,
has indicated that Canada will not ground the plane until
American regulators have determined the cause of the latest crash.
But he also opened the possibility for a change in thinking.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/12/busi ... g-faa.htmlIn the United States, calls to ban the plane are mounting.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/13/busi ... 7-max.htmlTrump grounds Boeing 737 Max planes
Updated 1904 GMT (0304 HKT) March 13, 2019
President Donald Trump says his administration is grounding Boeing 737 Max planes
based on new information about the crash of an Ethiopian Air Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft.
Trump said from the White House on Wednesday that planes currently in the air
would be ordered to land at their destination and remain grounded,
and that airlines and pilots had been notified of the decision.
"It's a terrible, terrible thing," Trump said of the airliner issue,
which led to more than 50 nations ordering the Max 8 and 9 aircraft grounded.
President Trump announced that the United States was grounding Boeing’s 737 Max aircraft,
reversing an earlier decision by American regulators
to keep the jets flying in the wake of a second deadly crash in Ethiopia.
The Federal Aviation Administration had for days resisted calls to ground the plane
even as safety regulators in some 42 countries had banned flights by the jets.
As recently as Tuesday,
the agency said it had seen “no systemic performance issues”
that would prompt it to halt flights of the jet.
The order came hours after Canada’s transport minister said
that newly available satellite-tracking data suggested
similarities between the crash in Ethiopia and another accident last October.
In a statement released after Mr. Trump’s announcement,
the F.A.A. also cited “newly refined satellite data”
as supporting the decision to ground the jets.
Marc Garneau, Canada’s transport minister,
had said that satellite tracing data of the vertical path of the Ethiopian jet
at take off and data from the Lion Air crash
showed similar “vertical fluctuations” and “oscillations.”
Boeing said it supported the decision to ground the planes.
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Who is flying, and who has grounded, the 737 Max 8?