Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility

Neptune to Launch a Creator-First, Customizable Algorithm Social Platform to Rival TikTok

10 hours ago

Kamala Harris Will Not Run for Governor of California in 2026

11 hours ago

Trump Pushes for Release of Epstein, Maxwell Grand Jury Testimony

13 hours ago

Trump Says US to Hit India With 25% Tariff Starting Friday

14 hours ago

Tariff Revenues Hit Record $150 Billion Amid Trump’s Trade Talks, Fox Business Reports

15 hours ago

Israeli Minister Hints at Annexing Parts of Gaza

16 hours ago

Fed Likely to Hold Rates Steady Despite Trump’s Push for Big Cuts

16 hours ago

What’s Behind California’s Frozen Housing Market?

1 day ago

Marjorie Taylor Greene Is First Republican Lawmaker to Call Gaza Crisis a ‘Genocide’

2 days ago
FAA Clears Boeing 737 Max to Fly Again
gvw_ap_news
By Associated Press
Published 5 years ago on
November 18, 2020

Share

After nearly two years and a pair of deadly crashes, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration has cleared Boeing’s 737 Max for flight.

The nation’s air safety agency announced the move early Wednesday, saying it was done after a “comprehensive and methodical” 20-month review process.

Regulators around the world grounded the Max in March 2019, after the crash of an Ethiopian Airlines jet. That happened less than five months after another Max flown by Indonesia’s Lion Air plunged into the Java Sea. A total of 346 passengers and crew members on both planes were killed.

Federal Aviation Administration chief Stephen Dickson signed an order Wednesday rescinding the grounding. U.S. airlines will be able to fly the Max once Boeing updates critical software and computers on each plane and pilots receive training in flight simulators.

The FAA says the order was made in cooperation with air safety regulators worldwide.

The move follows exhaustive congressional hearings on the crashes that led to criticism of the FAA for lax oversight and Boeing for rushing to implement a new software system that put profits over safety and ultimately led to the firing of its CEO.

Investigators focused on anti-stall software that Boeing had devised to counter the plane’s tendency to tilt nose-up because of the size and placement of the engines. That software pushed the nose down repeatedly on both planes that crashed, overcoming the pilots’ struggles to regain control. In each case, a single faulty sensor triggered the nose-down pitch.

The new software now requires inputs from two sensors in order to activate the software. Boeing says the software also does not override the pilot’s controls like it did in the past.

The company changed the software so it doesn’t repeatedly point the nose of the plane down to counteract possible aerodynamic stalling. Boeing also must install new display systems for pilots and change the way wires are routed to a tail stabilizer bar.

Boeing Shares Rose 3.5% to $217.38 in Early Trading Wednesday

On CNBC Wednesday, Dickson said the design and pilot training changes required by the FAA “makes it impossible for the airplanes to have the same kind of accident that unfortunately killed 346 people.”

Boeing shares rose 3.5% to $217.38 in early trading Wednesday. That’s about half of the all-time high of $440.62 reached on March 1, 2019, just days before the Ethiopian crash, but well above the $95 trough in March, when the pandemic caused massive disruptions to travel and the global economy.

“These events and the lessons we have learned as a result have reshaped our company and further focused our attention on our core values of safety, quality and integrity,” Boeing CEO David Calhoun said in a statement.

The aircraft maker’s redemption comes in the middle of a pandemic that has scared away passengers and decimated the aviation industry, limiting the company’s ability to make a comeback. Air travel in the U.S. alone is down about 65% from a year ago.

Boeing sales of new planes have plunged because of the Max crisis and the coronavirus pandemic. Orders for more than 1,000 Max jets have been canceled or removed from Boeing’s backlog this year. Each plane has a sticker price of $99 million to $135 million, although airlines routinely pay less.

John Hansman, an aeronautics professor at MIT, said people typically avoid airplanes for a few months after there are problems. But the Max case is unusual, and were it not for the novel coronavirus, Hansman said he would feel safe flying on a Max.

“This whole thing has had more scrutiny than any airplane in the world,” he said. “It’s probably the safest airplane to be on.”

Some Consumer Groups Urged Airlines to Fully Disclose When Max Flights Are Planned

American is the only U.S. airline to put the Max back in its schedule so far, starting with one round trip daily between New York and Miami beginning Dec. 29. United expects to start using the plane early next year, while Southwest said its Max jets won’t fly before the second quarter of 2021.

Some consumer groups urged airlines to fully disclose when Max flights are planned. That’s usually on an airline’s website, although passengers have to know where to click. Advocates are concerned about airlines using the Max in a last-minute switch.

Nearly 400 Max jets were in service worldwide when they were grounded, and Boeing has built and stored about 450 more since then. All have to undergo maintenance before they can fly.

Pilots must also undergo simulator training, which was not required when the aircraft was introduced. Hansman said training for qualified 737 pilots shouldn’t take long because Boeing has fixed software problems.

Relatives of people who died in the crashes aren’t convinced the Max is safe. They accused Boeing of hiding critical design features from the FAA.

“The flying public should avoid the Max,” said Michael Stumo, whose 24-year-old daughter died in the second crash. “Change your flight. This is still a more dangerous aircraft than other modern planes.”

Boeing’s reputation has taken a beating since the crashes. Its then-CEO, Dennis Muilenburg, initially suggested that the foreign pilots were to blame. However, congressional investigators discovered an FAA analysis — conducted after the first Max crash — that predicted there would be 15 more crashes during the plane’s life span if the flight-control software were not fixed.

Boeing Was Repeatedly Wrong About How Quickly It Could Fix the Plane

After an 18-month investigation, the House Transportation Committee heaped blame on Boeing, which was under pressure to develop the Max to compete with a plane from European rival Airbus, and the FAA, which certified the Max and was the last agency in the world to ground it after the crashes. The investigators said Boeing suffered from a “culture of concealment,” and pressured engineers to rush the plane to the market.

Boeing was repeatedly wrong about how quickly it could fix the plane. When those predictions continued to be wrong, and Boeing was perceived as putting undue pressure on the FAA, Muilenburg was fired in December 2019.

Dickson — a former Air Force and Delta Air Lines pilot — flew the plane personally before it was cleared.

Europe’s aviation regulator, the European Union Aviation Safety Agency, said it will take public comment on plans to clear the Max for flight and expects to finalize a plan by early next year. Some EU states will have to lift their own grounding notices as well. Regulators in Canada and China are still doing their own reviews.

Relatives say it’s too soon, and they and their lawyers say Boeing and the FAA are withholding documents. Anton Sahadi, who lives in Jakarta, Indonesia, and lost two brothers in the Lion Air crash, said it’s too early for the Max to fly again.

“The cases from the incidents are not 100% finished yet,” he said. “I think all the victims’ family in Indonesia and Ethiopia will feel the same, so regretful, why it can fly again because we are still in the recovery process for our problems because of the incidents.”

Naoise Ryan, an Irish citizen whose husband died in the Ethiopian crash, said the Max is “the same airplane that crashed not once but twice because safety was not a priority for this company.”

RELATED TOPICS:

DON'T MISS

What Are Fresno Real Estate Experts Predicting for 2025 and Beyond?

DON'T MISS

First California EV Mandates Hit Automakers This Year. Most Are Not Even Close

DON'T MISS

Jet Crashes in Fresno County Field, Pilot Aided by EMS

DON'T MISS

Madera Man Sentenced to 34 Years to Life in Fresno Murder Case

DON'T MISS

High Noon Recalls Mislabeled Vodka Seltzers Shipped in Celsius Cans, NBC Reports

DON'T MISS

Wired Wednesday: New Fresno Ordinance Targets Vacant Blighted Properties

DON'T MISS

Fresno Unified Trustee Susan Wittrup Responds to $162,000 Payout

DON'T MISS

Visalia Suspect in Fatal Assault and Serial Sexual Battery Cases Arrested in Alaska

DON'T MISS

Canada Says It Intends to Recognize a Palestinian State in September

DON'T MISS

Dubai Nut Processor Aims for October Opening in Fresno: Dyer

DON'T MISS

Costa Blasts GOP Over Medi-Cal Cuts. His 2026 Opponent Defends Them

DON'T MISS

Trump Says US and Pakistan Have Concluded a Trade Deal

UP NEXT

Trump Says US and Pakistan Have Concluded a Trade Deal

UP NEXT

Trump Imposes Scaled-Back Copper Tariff, US Prices Plunge

UP NEXT

Neptune to Launch a Creator-First, Customizable Algorithm Social Platform to Rival TikTok

UP NEXT

Trump Signs Order Implementing Additional 40% Tariff on Brazil, White House Says

UP NEXT

Trump Says US to Hit India With 25% Tariff Starting Friday

UP NEXT

Republican US Senator Grassley Clashes With Trump Over Nominations

UP NEXT

Tariff Revenues Hit Record $150 Billion Amid Trump’s Trade Talks, Fox Business Reports

UP NEXT

California Under Tsunami Advisory After Magnitude 8.7 Earthquake

UP NEXT

New York Gunman Was Flagged by Security Camera System Before Attack, Sources Say

UP NEXT

US House Panel Rejects Immunity Request by Epstein Associate Maxwell

Wired Wednesday: New Fresno Ordinance Targets Vacant Blighted Properties

8 hours ago

Fresno Unified Trustee Susan Wittrup Responds to $162,000 Payout

8 hours ago

Visalia Suspect in Fatal Assault and Serial Sexual Battery Cases Arrested in Alaska

8 hours ago

Canada Says It Intends to Recognize a Palestinian State in September

9 hours ago

Dubai Nut Processor Aims for October Opening in Fresno: Dyer

9 hours ago

Costa Blasts GOP Over Medi-Cal Cuts. His 2026 Opponent Defends Them

9 hours ago

Trump Says US and Pakistan Have Concluded a Trade Deal

10 hours ago

Trump Imposes Scaled-Back Copper Tariff, US Prices Plunge

10 hours ago

Neptune to Launch a Creator-First, Customizable Algorithm Social Platform to Rival TikTok

10 hours ago

Kamala Harris Will Not Run for Governor of California in 2026

11 hours ago

Jet Crashes in Fresno County Field, Pilot Aided by EMS

Emergency crews responded Wednesday evening after a jet crashed into a field in Fresno County, authorities said. The crash was reported arou...

4 hours ago

4 hours ago

Jet Crashes in Fresno County Field, Pilot Aided by EMS

Lavale Vean Jr., 28, was sentenced Wednesday, July 30, 2025, to 34 years to life in prison for the 2017 murder of Roberto Ramos in Fresno. (Fresno County SO)
6 hours ago

Madera Man Sentenced to 34 Years to Life in Fresno Murder Case

High Noon has recalled some vodka seltzers after they were accidentally labeled as Celsius energy drinks and shipped to six states. (Shutterstock)
7 hours ago

High Noon Recalls Mislabeled Vodka Seltzers Shipped in Celsius Cans, NBC Reports

8 hours ago

Wired Wednesday: New Fresno Ordinance Targets Vacant Blighted Properties

Fresno Unified Susan Wittrup
8 hours ago

Fresno Unified Trustee Susan Wittrup Responds to $162,000 Payout

Adrian Hernandez Medrano, 20, accused in multiple sexual battery cases and a fatal assault in Visalia was arrested in Alaska, police said. (Visalia PD)
8 hours ago

Visalia Suspect in Fatal Assault and Serial Sexual Battery Cases Arrested in Alaska

Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney speaks to journalists outside his office on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada June 30, 2025. (Reuters File)
9 hours ago

Canada Says It Intends to Recognize a Palestinian State in September

9 hours ago

Dubai Nut Processor Aims for October Opening in Fresno: Dyer

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Search

Send this to a friend