The director of the European Aviation Safety Agency is heard by MEPs on Monday. The Boeing 737 MAX, grounded in Europe for two years, could be cleared to fly again. The two crashes in which he was involved claimed the lives of 346 passengers.
Will we soon be able to board a Boeing 737 MAX again in Europe? The latest Boeing born, involved in two crashes that killed 346 people in Indonesia and Ethiopia, has been banned from flying over Europe for almost two years. He could get his certificate of airworthiness back in the coming days.
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The director of the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) Patrick Ky is due to be heard on Monday by the Transport and Tourism Committee of the European Parliament. “We want to be sure that this plane will fly again in complete safety,” the President of the Commission, the elected EELV Karima Delli, told the Parisian.
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Boeing 737 MAX returns to US skies after 20 months on the ground
If Europe wants guarantees, it is because the American investigation carried out after the two crashes, revealed that Boeing had hidden design elements of its aircraft from the United States Aviation Safety Agency, in particular an MCAS anti-stall software. (Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System) at the origin of the two accidents.
Boeing had put this system in place to compensate for the increased weight of the reactors. Problem: Too much tilt caused the airplane to stall. Boeing admitted the facts and agreed to pay 2 billion euros to end the criminal proceedings.
A cheat that makes the association Vol ET302 Solidarity and Justice suspicious of the honesty of the American manufacturer.
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No Boeing 737 MAX for French companies
Three countries have so far given a new certification to the Boeing 737 MAX: the United States, Canada and Brazil. In Brazil, the aircraft of the airline Gol made its first commercial flight without incident between Sao Paulo and Porto Alegre, in December 2020. In the United States, flights resumed at the end of December with an American Airlines flight between Miami and New York. In Canada, flights have been authorized since last Wednesday.
About ten European companies are spread over the 64 aircraft concerned in Europe. Low cost airline Ryanair has ordered 210 but they have yet to be delivered. She currently flies only a Boeing 737.
In France, no airline has a Boeing 737 MAX to date.
Doubts then the Covid-19
The Boeing 737 MAX had been grounded around the world following two air disasters. A Lion Air plane crashed in Indonesia killing 189 people in October 2018. Then an Ethiopian Airlines plane crashed in Ethiopia in March 2019. 157 people were killed.
Boeing cash cow since 2016, the accusations against the Boeing 737 MAX plunged Boeing into an unprecedented crisis before the Covid-19 heavily penalized air travel.
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