March 10, another 737 MAX 8 operating Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 crashed shortly after take-off from Addis Ababa airport, killing all 157 on board, due to a similar faulty MCAS, initiating a worldwide flight ban for the aircraft, starting with China on March 11.
WASHINGTON, April 28 (Reuters) - Some Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) engineers recommended grounding the Boeing (BA. N) 737 MAX in March 2019 after a second fatal crash and before the agency took action, a report released Friday said.
Both the NTSB and France's Bureau of Enquiry and Analysis agreed with the Ethiopian agency's conclusion that the design of Boeing's new flight control software that repeatedly pushed the jet's nose down — the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System, or MCAS — was a major cause of the accident.
The ultimate Boeing 737 MAX question is always, 'is it safe now? '. The answer to that is a resounding yes. The plane has been described as one of the most scrutinized aircraft in aviation history, with authorities like the FAA, EASA, and many more taking a very close look at the plane.
The 737 MAX was grounded in March 2019 following fatal crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia but has returned to service around the world with the exception of China and Russia after modifications to the aircraft and pilot training. Foreign airlines began flying the 737 MAX to China in October 2022.
Because of the sheer intensity of the scrutiny the aircraft faced, the Boeing 737 MAX could be considered one of the safest in the world. In fact, among the dozens of models of commercial airliners around the world, it is likely the safest due to the amount of regulation testing that took place.
The Boeing 737 MAX 8 is a new plane that had its first flight in January 2016. Despite its short time on the market, the MAX 8 has been involved in two tragedies in fewer than five months: the Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 crash on March 10, 2019, and the Lion Air Flight JT 610 crash on Oct. 29, 2018.
954 active units. The majority of active Boeing 737 MAX aircraft are of the -8 variant. The remaining crop is split between the 737 8-200 (currently only flown by the Ryanair Group) and the MAX 9. With 711 examples across 54 carriers, the mid-sized -8 variant far overshadows the larger -9 and the higher capacity -8-200 ...
The FAA said on April 29 that it is investigating how the electrical problem occurred. Officials said the manufacturing flaw, which arose after a design change in 2019, led to insufficient electrical grounding in some cockpit areas, which could ultimately affect systems such as engine ice protection, if not addressed.
The pilot, Mark Forkner, was the only person to face criminal charges for flaws that resulted in two fatal crashes of one of Boeing's most important planes. A jury in Texas on Wednesday acquitted a former Boeing technical pilot, Mark A.
The plane had been grounded for 20 months — the longest such action in aviation history — following two deadly crashes blamed in part on an automated flight-control system. Boeing has overhauled the plane's design and software, and paid billions of dollars to try and move past the incidents.
Both airlines separately sued Boeing and argued they should have gotten compensation from Boeing as part of the plea deal, as other airlines did. Those suits in Seattle are pending.
N) 737 MAX Ethiopian Airlines crash may seek compensation for pain and suffering of passengers before the plane hit the ground. Boeing in 2021 agreed to acknowledge liability for compensatory damages in lawsuits filed by families of the 157 people killed in the fatal Ethiopian 737 MAX crash.
While passengers can always choose not to get on a plane if they feel unsafe, the two major US airlines that have 737 MAX 8 planes are not grounding those aircraft or changing their standard flight cancellation, change or refund policies.
Boeing estimates that the average 737 MAX 7 aircraft would seat anywhere between 138 to 153 passengers. The MAX 8 would seat between 162 to 178 passengers, while the MAX 9 would seat 178 to 193 passengers, depending on the configuration.
Utilizing the International Civil Aviation Organization safety occurrence data, from 2008 to 2019, these aircraft were compared in terms of occurrence type, occurrence category, phase of flight, injury level, and fatalities. It was found that Boeing had more accidents than expected, while Airbus had less (p = 0.015).
Since then the aircraft has been referred to as both the 787 and the Dreamliner. The naming convention that Boeing now applies to its aircraft such as the 787, which comes in the 787-8, 787-9, and 787-10, will also be applied to the 737 MAX.
In MAX, the latest construction solutions have been combined with technology proven in Dreamliner aircraft. New engines are quieter and more efficient, giving MAX longer range and lower environmental impact. MAX has better aerodynamics than its predecessors.
As a result, Boeing agreed to establish a $500 million fund to compensate the families of those who died, pay a fine of nearly $244 million and pay $1.77 billion in compensation to airlines.
Boeing has told a US court it was not guilty of concealing information about flight control systems on its 737 Max aircraft, which led to two crashes, killing 346 people. Flaws in the systems were found to have led to the accidents, but Boeing avoided a trial by agreeing to pay $2.5bn (£1.8bn).
As of March 2022, there has been a total of 503 aviation accidents and incidents involving all 737 aircraft, including 219 hull losses resulting in a total of 5,717 fatalities. The 737 first entered airline service in February 1968; the 10,000th aircraft entered service in March 2018.
On an American Airlines Boeing 737-800, for example, the seat-rating site SeatGuru warns of several “bad” seats, denoted in red. They include all the seats in row 30, at the back of the aircraft. The reasons are obvious: Like Conway's, the seats in row 30 are next to lavatories and don't fully recline.
Inauguration, Launch History
A Boeing 737-8 with the serial number 42554 and the registration N8701Q made the series' inaugural flight on January 29, 2016, from Renton Field in Washington state. The 737-8 was certified by the FAA on March 8, 2017, following a nearly 14-month flight-testing procedure.
Boeing estimates that their 737 series aircraft have a lifespan of 90,000 flight cycles or 55,000 flight hours, whichever comes first. The 747 series aircraft have a lifespan of around 35 years or 90,000 flight hours.