The grounding of the Boeing 737 Max, when it finally came in March 2019, was less a decision than a collapse. Regulator after regulator went first. The United States, home of the manufacturer and of the FAA, went nearly last.
Two crashes did it. Lion Air Flight 610 dropped into the Java Sea 13 minutes out of Jakarta on 29 October 2018, killing all 189 people on board. Less than five months later, on 10 March 2019, Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 went down six minutes after leaving Addis Ababa with all 157 aboard. Preliminary reports pointed at the same flight control system, MCAS, in both.
The FAA held out. Acting administrator Daniel K Elwell said the agency’s review “shows no systematic performance issues and provides no basis to order grounding the aircraft”, and Boeing insisted it had “full confidence” in the jet. Then the world moved anyway. The EU’s EASA suspended the 737-8 and 737-9, the UK, Ireland, Germany and France halted flights, and Australia, Singapore, China, India and New Zealand followed. At least 27 airlines grounded the Max, more than half of the 350 jets then in service were withdrawn, and by 13 March Boeing itself recommended parking the entire global fleet of 371.
A spokesman for Britain’s Civil Aviation Authority explained the precaution bluntly: there was not enough information from the flight data recorder, so “instructions to stop any commercial passenger flights from any operator arriving, departing or overflying UK airspace” were issued. Donald Trump muddied things by complaining that modern planes were “becoming far too complex to fly” and adding: “I don’t want Albert Einstein to be my pilot. I want great flying professionals that are allowed to easily and quickly take control of a plane!”
Two US pilots had already filed NASA safety reports saying the nose of their Max tilted down sharply right after the autopilot engaged; both recovered by disconnecting it. Norwegian Air, forced to park its 18 Max 8s, said it expected compensation from Boeing. TUI, which had five of the jets registered in the UK, dropped the type group-wide, across all six of its airlines.
The human cost sat behind the politics. Paul Njoroge, who lost his wife, three children and mother-in-law on ET302, put it in one line: “My family died because of Boeing’s negligence, arrogance, management disfunction and lack of internal oversight and the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration).” Boeing, approached by the BBC, declined an interview. Chairman Dennis Muilenburg offered sorrow, and $100m (£80m) for families of both crashes. The families said they want answers, not money.
Sources
- Boeing 737 Max: 'I lost my family in the Ethiopian plane crash'
- Boeing and US under pressure to ground 737 Max as further bans brought in | Ethiopian Airlines crash | The Guardian
