Five months after the return to flight of the Boeing 737 MAX, the American aircraft manufacturer asked some of its customers, Friday, April 9, to no longer fly certain aircraft, the time to adjust a “Potential electrical problem”.
“The recommendation is made to allow verification of the existence of a sufficient earth connection for a component of the power supply system”, explains the American aircraft manufacturer in a communicated. In a circuit, earth is used to prevent a possible electrical overload when the device is poorly insulated.
Boeing has warned customers of precisely affected aircraft. “We will provide them with instructions on the appropriate corrective measures”, he adds, without mentioning a deadline. He also says work ” in close collaboration “ with the US Air Force, the FAA, on the issue.
The number of devices affected, as well as the identity of the customers, was not specified. Some 450 Boeing 737 MAX have been delivered to 49 airlines and lessors since this model entered service.
Temporary withdrawals at Southwest Airlines and American Airlines
Southwest Airlines announced that 30 of its 58 737 MAX 8 aircraft were affected by Boeing’s notification and that it would replace them with other planes from its fleet for flights already scheduled. The company said it had not found any operational issues related to the defect, but was still going to investigate further. For its part, American Airlines announced the temporary withdrawal of 17 of the most recently delivered aircraft, time to make the changes recommended or required by Boeing or the FAA.
More than 400 other aircraft are currently in Boeing parking lots, unable to be delivered while the plane was banned from commercial flight. The aircraft manufacturer will not have finished selling them to its customers until 2022. The 737 MAX, a new medium-haul version released in 1967, plunged the aircraft manufacturer into one of the most serious crises in its history, damaging its reputation for quality and costing it billions of dollars.
The plane was banned from flying in March 2019 after two accidents that killed 346, that of a Lion Air aircraft in Indonesia in October 2018 (189 dead) and that of an Ethiopian Airlines aircraft in March 2019. in Ethiopia (157 dead). The accidents highlighted a flaw in the MCAS flight control software. Each time, it was after having received erroneous information from one of the two AOA angle of attack probes, indicating that the aircraft was in a stall, that the MCAS had run away despite the pilots’ efforts to deactivate it, and had pitched the plane.
The device was cleared for flight again in November in the United States, then in most parts of the world, after modifications to this software, repositioning of some cables and re-training of the pilots. However, it remains on the tarmacs in China, where eighty-one 737 MAX have been delivered.
The doubts about the reliability of the plane had led many airlines to cancel their orders, representing 641 MAX in 2020. However, the device has seen a comeback in recent weeks with its customers, the investment company 777 Partners ordering 24 aircraft and the American giant SouthWest Arilines 100 units.