The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) has assured that the Boeing 737 MAX 9 operating in Europe are not grounded by an emergency directive issued by the United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in response to the January 5 accident during an Alaska Airlines flight and, therefore, can continue flying normally .
Thus, EASA made the decision to adopt the FAA order even though, to the Agency’s knowledge and also based on statements from the FAA and Boeing, no airline of an EASA Member State currently operates an aircraft with the configuration in question.
“In the specific configuration that the policy refers to, the outlet in the center of the cabin is replaced by a plug-in panel. “This configuration is normally adopted by airlines conducting low-density operations where this additional departure is not necessary to meet evacuation safety requirements,” he explained in a statement.
Specifically, the aircraft had to make a forced landing at 4,800 meters altitude during a trip from Portland (Oregon) to Ontario (California), after an exit panel fell off, causing rapid decompression of the cabin.
The seriousness of this accident led to the decision to immediately paralyze all Boeing flights in national territory of this model for subsequent inspection and application of appropriate corrective measures.
However, the AESA is in contact with the FAA on this matter and will closely follow the investigation of the Alaska Airlines incident.
Other Boeing 737 Max accidents
after the incident in the US
The safety of the Boeing 737 Max is once again in the spotlight of the aeronautical industry after this weekend an Alaska Airlines Max 9 model aircraft lost part of the fuselage in mid-flight.
This latest incident has once again put the 737 Max family of aircraft in the spotlight, which since 2019 they have been immobilized in dozens of countries for almost two years after two accidents involving a Boeing 737 Max 8 in which 346 people died, in Indonesia and Ethiopia.
In both cases, it was determined that flight control software generated erroneous information and put the aircraft in a descent position, despite the pilots’ efforts to reverse that instruction.
Just two weeks ago, the Boeing 737s were back in the news, after the American multinational asked airlines to inspect their planes for a possible loose screw in the control system.
In the case of this weekend’s incident, in which there were no serious injuries, the US National Transportation Safety Board will lead the investigations, which in these cases usually include inspections of the plane’s design, manufacturing and maintenance. .
Technicians will analyze the sealed panel on the opposite side of the one that blew up to try to determine the cause of the failure, as well as the cabin pressurization systemaccording to what that security body has advanced.
Air incidents also often lead authorities to evaluate the weather conditions when the event occurred, as well as the decisions made by both the traffic control, pilots and airplane crew involved, with the aim of learning useful lessons in future incidents.
Boeing falls on the stock market and cancels 20% of its flights
Boeing is falling 6.6% on the New York Stock Exchange up to 232.46 dollars (211.81 euros) per share, after 5:40 p.m. this Monday, in which it has canceled a total of 141 flights, 20% of its schedule, according to data consulted in Flightaware.
Together with the American company, Spirit AeroSystems, manufacturer of the panel affected in the incident, also recorded a large drop in stock market value of 8%. For its part, Alaska Airlines shares fell more than 2%.
In statements from Boeing last Friday, the manufacturer is working to Gather more information and contact the airline clientin addition to having a technical team ready to support the investigation.
“We agree and We fully support the FAA’s decision to require immediate inspections of 737-9 aircraft with the same configuration as the affected aircraft,” he added in the statement.