US regulator grounds 737 Max 9 until it receives further data from Boeing
US aviation regulators said on Friday that the 737 Max 9 would stay grounded until Boeing provides additional data. The FAA said it wanted to analyse data from inspections of an initial group of 40 of the roughly 170 grounded jets before it decided whether to lift the flying ban it imposed following a harrowing mid-air blowout of a fuselage section on an Alaska Airlines flight. “We are working to make sure nothing like this happens again,” FAA administrator Michael Whitaker said. Boeing said earlier this week that it had provided instructions to airlines on how to inspect the planes. But the FAA said it needed more information before signing off on the regimen, though it added it was “encouraged by the exhaustive nature of Boeing’s instructions for inspections and maintenance”. United Airlines, which flies more Max 9s than any carrier, said on Friday it was cancelling flights on the plane through to Tuesday, giving it more time to manoeuvre as it braced for winter storms across much of the US. “By cancelling this far in advance, we’re trying to create more certainty for our customers and more flexibility for our frontline teams to do their work,” the airline said. Earlier on Friday the FAA said it was considering whether to strip Boeing of its right to conduct some of its aircraft inspections for planes leaving its factories. The move to review the oversight programme, where Boeing’s own employees certify aircraft safety on behalf of the Federal Aviation Administration, was prompted by the grounding of some 737 Max 9s following the mid-air incident over Oregon last Friday. The so-called “organisation designation authorisation” earlier came under scrutiny when two Boeing 737 Max 8s crashed in 2018 and 2019. Whitaker said the FAA was “exploring” its options for using an independent third-party to oversee inspections of Boeing’s aircraft and its quality controls. “It is time to re-examine the delegation of authority and assess any associated safety risks,” he said. “The grounding of the 737-9 and the multiple production-related issues identified in recent years [at Boeing] require us to look at every option to reduce risk.” <br/>
https://portal.staralliance.com/cms/news/hot-topics/2024-01-15/general/us-regulator-grounds-737-max-9-until-it-receives-further-data-from-boeing
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US regulator grounds 737 Max 9 until it receives further data from Boeing
US aviation regulators said on Friday that the 737 Max 9 would stay grounded until Boeing provides additional data. The FAA said it wanted to analyse data from inspections of an initial group of 40 of the roughly 170 grounded jets before it decided whether to lift the flying ban it imposed following a harrowing mid-air blowout of a fuselage section on an Alaska Airlines flight. “We are working to make sure nothing like this happens again,” FAA administrator Michael Whitaker said. Boeing said earlier this week that it had provided instructions to airlines on how to inspect the planes. But the FAA said it needed more information before signing off on the regimen, though it added it was “encouraged by the exhaustive nature of Boeing’s instructions for inspections and maintenance”. United Airlines, which flies more Max 9s than any carrier, said on Friday it was cancelling flights on the plane through to Tuesday, giving it more time to manoeuvre as it braced for winter storms across much of the US. “By cancelling this far in advance, we’re trying to create more certainty for our customers and more flexibility for our frontline teams to do their work,” the airline said. Earlier on Friday the FAA said it was considering whether to strip Boeing of its right to conduct some of its aircraft inspections for planes leaving its factories. The move to review the oversight programme, where Boeing’s own employees certify aircraft safety on behalf of the Federal Aviation Administration, was prompted by the grounding of some 737 Max 9s following the mid-air incident over Oregon last Friday. The so-called “organisation designation authorisation” earlier came under scrutiny when two Boeing 737 Max 8s crashed in 2018 and 2019. Whitaker said the FAA was “exploring” its options for using an independent third-party to oversee inspections of Boeing’s aircraft and its quality controls. “It is time to re-examine the delegation of authority and assess any associated safety risks,” he said. “The grounding of the 737-9 and the multiple production-related issues identified in recent years [at Boeing] require us to look at every option to reduce risk.” <br/>
