Trump orders grounding of all US based 737 MAX planes

World Thursday 14/March/2019 14:03 PM
By: Times News Service
Trump orders grounding of all US based 737 MAX planes

Muscat: US President Donald Trump on Wednesday announced the immediate grounding of all Boeing 737 MAX airplanes operating in the US in response to an Ethiopian Airlines crash that killed all 157 people on board.

A number of countries, including those in the EU, China, India, Indonesia, Singapore, Oman, UAE, Kuwait, Malaysia, the U.K. and South Korea, have already grounded Boeing´s 737 MAX 8 medium-haul workhorse jet following the second deadly crash of the airliner in less than five months.

“We are going to be issuing an emergency order of prohibition to ground all flights of the 737 MAX 8 and the 737 MAX 9, and planes associated with that line. Any plane currently in air will go to its destination and thereafter be grounded until after further notice. So, planes in the air will be grounded if they are the 737 MAX upon landing at the destination. Pilots and airlines have been all notified,” said Trump.

He added that "the planes are grounded effective immediately. Our hearts go out to all of those who lost loved ones to their friends and to their families and both the Ethiopian and Lion airline crashes that involved the 737 MAX aircraft.”

Moreover, the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) issued an emergency order on the temporary grounding of Boeing 737 MAX aircraft operated by U.S. airlines or in a U.S. territory.

“The FAA is ordering the temporary grounding of Boeing 737 MAX aircraft operated by U.S. airlines or in U.S. territory. The agency made this decision as a result of data gathering process and new evidence collected at the site and analyzed today.

“This evidence, together with newly refined satellite data available to FAA this morning, led to this decision. The grounding will remain in effect pending further investigation, including examination of information from the aircraft’s flight data recorders and cockpit voice recorders,” FAA posted the statement on their official twitter account.

Officials added that an FAA team is in Ethiopia assisting the NTSB as parties to the investigation of the Flight 302 accident, and the agency will continue to investigate.