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Lori Aratani
Reporter focusing on transportation issues, including airports, airlines, and the country's rail and subway systems
March 13
US aviation security officials found themselves virtually alone on Tuesday after their European and global counterparts ordered the shutdown of hundreds of Boeing aircraft as investigators tried to determine the cause of the crash. Ethiopian Airlines, which had killed 157 people this week.
The Trump administration has resisted bipartite calls to temporarily suspend use of the Boeing 737 Max 8, even as President Trump had telephoned the CEO of the besieged company.
At a time when the European Union and other countries in the wake of China's move to the helm of the most important US aircraft giant US aircraft, former transport safety officials have said that the Federal Aviation Administration was in danger of losing its status as a world leader in aviation safety. India became the last country to put the device to the ground last Tuesday, stating that no plane would be allowed to enter or transit through the airspace from Wednesday afternoon. Hong Kong, New Zealand and the United Arab Emirates have followed suit.
The 737 Max 8, Boeing's newest aircraft, was involved in two collisions in less than six months. The first, in October, killed 189 pbadengers and crew aboard a Lion Air aircraft when the plane plunged into the Java Sea off the coast. Indonesia, shortly after takeoff.
Former US Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood, a US Congressman before being nominated by President Barack Obama, said current secretary Elaine Chao should immediately stop the aircraft on the ground.
[China’s ban on the Boeing 737 Max inspires others, ramps up pressure on U.S. regulator]
Investigators examined the wreckage at the scene south of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where an Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 Max 8 crashed shortly after takeoff, killing the 157 pbadengers on board. (Mulugeta Ayene / AP)
"These planes should be shot down and inspected. We owe this to the flying public, "said LaHood Tuesday.
However, FAA Acting Director Daniel K. Elwell said late Tuesday that his agency had conducted a thorough review of the "overall safety performance of Boeing 737 MAX operators and pilots." systemic performance problem and provides no basis for ordering the grounding of the aircraft. "
Civil aviation authorities in other countries have not provided us with data that would warrant action, "said Elwell.
During a conversation with Trump on Tuesday, Boeing general manager Dennis Muilenburg said that it was necessary to keep planes in the sky, according to a senior administration official. The president has not yet made a final decision on what to do in response to the crashes of Ethiopia and Indonesia, and is expected to have other meetings on Wednesday.
With the crash of the Ethiopian, a second new Boeing 737 MAX 8 breaks down
White House officials are working with officials from the FAA and the Ministry of Transport to determine if pilots may have made mistakes or if there were any problems with technology or aircraft manufacturing, said the official, adding that the administration did not want to make a decisive decision. and fears that the immobilization of the fleet could have widespread financial effects and create unnecessary fear.
But a former FAA official, who asked for anonymity to speak frankly, said that these effects are already being felt, regardless of what the United States is doing.
"In reality, it is basically anyway," said the former manager. "If all these countries do not let in these planes, which [cares] What does the United States allow?
The United States and Canada have challenged the global aviation community by keeping the 737 Max in service. Until Tuesday night, FlyDubai was the only other major carrier to use this aircraft outside of North America. According to a Washington Post badysis, at least 222 aircraft have been immobilized around the world.
A further 158 aircraft remained eligible for service – primarily in the United States and Canada – including just over 100 in the fleets of five airlines: American, Air Canada, Southwest, United and WestJet.
The White House talked about planes with US and Southwest officials, said the administration official.
Some observers see parallels between the Ethiopian Airlines flight crash and the Lion Air crash on 29 October. Both aircraft were new Boeing Max 8s that sank shortly after takeoff. Both also struggled to gain altitude and appeared to go up and down several times before crashing.
According to experts, it is too early to determine whether the same problem that prevented pilots from controlling the Lion Air flight – a defective sensor badociated with an automated response from the aircraft's software – had contributed to the destruction of the Ethiopian aircraft Airlines. The investigators did not determine the final cause of the Lion Air crash.
LaHood said it took the precautionary step to connect ground planes in 2013, after the Boeing 787 Dreamliners' lithium-ion batteries overheated, causing bitter smoke and alarms.
"I consulted with the FAA Administrator, and talked to the Boeing CEO, and obviously Boeing did not like the decision made when it was taken. But when all the planes were inspected and determined to be safe, everything was fine, "LaHood said.
LaHood said that he had told the White House what he was doing but that Obama was not involved.
[Boeing Max 8 will continue to fly in U.S. even as China, others ground it]
Chao – whose supporters spoke of his experience in the aviation industry as a former Northwest Airlines board member when Trump appointed his secretary – reiterated Tuesday that his department would take over "immediate and appropriate action" if a safety problem is identified.
"The Department and the FAA are working closely with the National Transportation Safety Board and the Accident Investigation Bureau in Ethiopia to determine the cause of this tragedy as quickly as possible and to evaluate the measures that are taking place. impose, "said Chao.
A spokesman for Chao did not respond directly to LaHood's questions nor to the rush of the international aviation security community to anchor the aircraft to the ground.
Peter A. DeFazio (D-Ore.), Chairman of the House of Commons Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, said he wanted to know more about the FAA's decisions regarding the recycling of pilots on Boeing's new model and suggested that the agency may be in conflict because of its dual role in regulating American aviation and promoting the industry.
Muilenburg's appeal to Trump followed the president's tweets complaining that planes in general were becoming too automated. But there had been discussions the day before about the establishment of the call, said a person familiar with this call, and it was not a reaction to the tweets.
"Airplanes are becoming far too complex to fly," Trump tweeted Tuesday. "The pilots are no longer needed, but the computer scientists at MIT."
[Pilots unable to correct for faulty sensor that sent Indonesian flight plunging into the sea, report says]
"Decisions in a fraction of a second are needed, and complexity creates a danger," said the president added. "All this for a huge cost, but very little gain. I do not know about you, but I do not want Albert Einstein to be my pilot. I want excellent aviation professionals licensed to take control of an aircraft easily and quickly! "
Muilenburg told the president that the planes are safe, said the person.
Since Trump has been in the job, both men have developed a relationship. Muilenburg also called when Trump, as president-elect, attacked the cost of the new Air Force One that Boeing is building.
Boeing donated $ 1 million to Trump's record inaugural fund.
The two men then met at Trump Mar-L-Lago Resort and Trump Tower to discuss the program.
"Boeing is building a brand new 747 Air Force One for future presidents, but the costs are out of control: more than $ 4 billion," Trump said. tweeted in December 2016. "Cancel the order!"
In this call, Muilenburg reiterated that it was "an honor for Boeing to be part of the program," confirmed one official at the time.
Last year, Trump entered into a $ 3.9 billion contract with Boeing for the construction of Air Force One.
Muilenburg was with Trump when the president called a top Pentagon official to compare the F-35, built by Boeing's competitor, Lockheed Martin, to Boeing's F / A-18 Super Hornet.
In June, at a meeting of the National Council of Space, Trump congratulated the CEO. "Dennis Muilenburg, a friend of mine. A good guy, said Trump. "Boeing's head. And, boy, did you do a good job on all fronts – commercial, military. "
And after several CEOs resigned from Trump's manufacturing board in 2017 because of the way the president organized a rally of supremacists in Charlottesville, Muilenburg kept a low profile and did not deny Trump. The president dissolved the board in a context of growing reaction.
[Boeing had a best-selling 737 and a growing global market. Now after two crashes, its reputation is at risk.]
A close examination of the Max 737 comes as Patrick Shanahan, a former Boeing executive, struggles to strengthen his leadership at the Pentagon. Shanahan, who led Boeing's commercial aircraft division over a long career with the airline, spent 18 months at the Pentagon's No. 2 position before being named acting Defense Secretary in December when his predecessor, Jim Mattis, resigned unexpectedly.
A senior defense official knowing Shanahan's work at Boeing said that "Shanahan was not responsible for the 737 Max" during his stay at the company. Another officer was in charge of the aircraft, which was considered part of a "development program," said this official.
"Safety is Boeing's number one priority and we have full confidence in the safety of the 737 MAX," Boeing said in a statement.
"We understand that regulators and customers have made the decisions they deem most appropriate for their domestic markets. We will continue to engage with them to ensure they have the necessary information to use their fleet with confidence. The US Federal Aviation Administration does not require any further action at this time and, based on information currently available, we have no basis for issuing new instructions to operators. "
Chris Nutter, a retired Navy pilot and retired airline captain at Alaska Airlines for 21 years, said the diversity of security guard responses "is probably prudent under the circumstances. I would not want to worry about one or the other of these groundings, nor about the continued operation of the aircraft. "
He said there was confidence in the FAA and the NTSB to identify and address immediate safety issues, in the US pilot training program, and in Boeing's procedures for resolving problems. The planes fly every day in the American airways, he said, and the pilots would not remain silent if they had concerns.
"When I take the plane to fly it, I have a direct interest in the safety of the plane. We will not be taking a plane in which we are not quite willing to bring our family in and fly it somewhere, "said Nutter, who teaches aviation's safety program. Aviation of the University of Southern California. "These crews will not board these planes if they are not safe. All the politics and money put aside, everyone wants to operate and will only operate a safe plane. "
The former FAA official said, however, that the agency's management of the crisis had become a "debacle" for which he was responsible if control gaps were discovered during the investigation. These are sensors, software and other automation technologies that are part of the aircraft, certification of these functions and the training required to ensure that aircraft fly safely.
"You have this huge organization, the FAA, just like Boeing, and they have been united at the hip across all these variants of the plane, including decisions regarding the design and use of this new system, and everything that flows from this new system, including manuals and training, "added the former manager." It's not just Boeing's decisions that are being revised, it's the FAA. "
Michael Birnbaum in Brussels; Kareem Fahim in Istanbul; and Christian Davenport, Missy Ryan, Damian Paletta, Faiz Siddiqui, Ashley Halsey, Luz Lazo and Mike DeBonis in Washington contributed to the writing of this report.
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