Nya bud från FAA: Vet inte när planet får flyga igen

Airlines and governments around the world imposed the Boeing 737 MAX groundings in March 2019 after the Boeing 737 MAX passenger airliner crashed twice in five months, killing all 346 people aboard Lion Air Flight 610 on October 29, 2018 and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 on March 10, 2019. Ethiopian Airlines was first to ground the aircraft, effective the day of its crash. On March 11, the Civil Aviation Administration of China was the first government regulator to ground the plane, while the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration defended the aircraft with a notice of "continued airworthiness". In the next two days, most other regulators and airlines grounded the aircraft. On March 13, the FAA reversed itself and grounded the MAX, citing new evidence. The 737 MAX's new Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS) was suspected of sending each aircraft into a dive in response to erroneous data. Aviation engineers criticized the MCAS for using only one angle of attack sensor, which made the system vulnerable to a single point of failure, and faulted a safety analysis that allowed repeated activation of the system beyond certified limits. After the Lion Air accident, U.S. pilots submitted safety reports about the aircraft’s unexpected maneuvers, and confronted Boeing for omitting information about MCAS from the crew manual. Boeing said the airplane was safe, but acknowledged the role of MCAS in the accidents. On March 17, the U.S. Department of Transportation began an investigation of FAA type certification of the 737 MAX. In May, Boeing completed a software update, subject to FAA approval, that prevents unintended MCAS activation. Boeing also developed upgraded pilot training, and the FAA Flight Standardization Board agreed with Boeing that costly simulator sessions should not be required for existing 737 MAX pilots. Airlines expected the grounding to extend through August 2019, and several asked Boeing for compensation. Boeing's financial results and stock value fell in response to the requests, negative publicity, and the possibility of losing existing and future business.