MAX og flysikkerhet - Money first? - Curt Lewis

FAA har vist at de ikke er i stand til å takle dette, men jeg håper at iallefall EASA har en edruelig tilnærming til problematikken. (Red.) Some U.S. airlines willing to take 737 MAX jets before pilot training approval: sources CHICAGO (Reuters) - Some U.S. airlines are willing to pick up their 737 MAX jets from Boeing Co as soon as December if the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) approves delivery of the grounded planes before new pilot training is agreed, three people with knowledge of the matter said. FILE PHOTO: Grounded Boeing 737 MAX aircraft are seen parked in an aerial photo at Boeing Field in Seattle, Washington, U.S. July 1, 2019. REUTERS/Lindsey Wasson/File Photo Hundreds of 737 MAX jets have rolled off Boeing's Seattle production line in the months since two fatal crashes on the aircraft led to a global safety ban, forcing the planemaker to park un-flown jets at facilities across Washington state until regulators approve software and training updates. Boeing on Monday said the FAA could issue an order approving the plane's return to service in December, even though approval for training changes would take more time. The FAA has repeatedly said that it has set no time frame for the process. FAA Administrator Steve Dickson said on Tuesday that a decision for the MAX "will be made solely on our assessment of the sufficiency of Boeing's proposed software updates and pilot training." By starting to hand over 737 MAX jets, Boeing would get a head start on what airlines predict will be the biggest delivery logjam in civil aviation history, while also protecting output. The longer the 737 MAX grounding lasts, the longer it will take Boeing to work through deliveries and the higher the risk it will have to halt production of the money-spinning MAX. The people with knowledge of the situation spoke on condition of anonymity due to continued uncertainty surrounding a definitive return-to-service date. Southwest Airlines, American Airlines Group Inc and United Airlines, which had MAX aircraft in their fleets at the time of the March grounding and more on order, have had to repeatedly extend daily flight cancellations as they await regulatory approval. Alaska Air Group Inc was expecting to receive its first 737 MAX deliveries this year. The conditions for 737 MAX delivery or contract terms were not disclosed, raising questions on whether any movements would be more of a pre-positioning rather than an actual delivery. Aircraft deliveries entail extensive paperwork, lawyers, and crucially, payment. One benefit is that aircraft do not depreciate until they start flying, so while an aircraft may be sitting, it still retains the same value until it begins to fly, one person said. Some 737 MAX jets are in long-term storage with their engines sealed to prevent invasion from birds and wildlife, while others are receiving nearly daily checks that would enable a quicker return to flight. Either way, there is an expense. Boeing has already set aside billions to compensate airlines for the cost of the grounding. Still, Southwest, American and United have all said that they want their MAX orders as soon as possible. "Not being at the front of the line may impact each airline's delivery plans," said Greg Bowen, committee chairman for training and standards at the Southwest Airlines Pilots Association. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-boeing-737max-airlines-deliveries/some-u-s-airlines-willing-to-take-737-max-jets-before-pilot-training-approval-sources-idUSKBN1XM2W2 Back to Top

Indonesia waiting on major global aviation regulators for return of 737 MAX: official Indonesia will not approve the return of the Boeing Co 737 MAX to its skies until after aviation regulators in the United States, Europe, Brazil, Canada and China do so, an official at Indonesia's aviation regulator said. A Lion Air 737 MAX crashed shortly after take-off from Jakarta last year, killing all 189 people on board, and the model was grounded globally following a second deadly crash in Ethiopia in March this year. Indonesian investigators last month released a final report into the Lion Air crash that included recommendations to Boeing, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the airline on improving safety practices. https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/indonesia-waiting-major-global-aviation-070521993.html Back to Top

Boeing gives pilot new job after firestorm over leaked messages - sources FILE PHOTO: Dozens of grounded Boeing 737 MAX aircraft are seen parked at Boeing Field in Seattle SEATTLE (Reuters) - One of two Boeing Co technical pilots who described flaws in a crucial flight control system in leaked 2016 instant messages has been transferred to a new job at the U.S. planemaker, two people familiar with the matter said on Tuesday. The 2016 conversation between the employee, Patrik Gustavsson, and then-colleague Mark Forkner, erased some $14 billion of its market value after they became public last month. Forkner's comments were among those pinpointed by U.S. lawmakers during back-to-back hearings in Washington as evidence Boeing knew about problems with flight control software well before the two crashes in the span of five months killed a total of 346 people. Gustavsson was a chief technical pilot for the 737 program at the time Forkner told him the jetliner's so-called MCAS stall-prevention system as "running rampant" in a flight simulator. Gustavsson later replied that other pilots had kept them "out of the loop" on changes to MCAS. Gustavsson was recently moved to a new job, two people said. One of them added that Gustavsson was transferred within the last two weeks to Boeing's Test & Evaluation group. That group includes pilots who put the actual 737 MAX aircraft through hundreds of hours of test flights before the jetliner entered service. Forkner is now a First Officer at Southwest Airlines after he left Boeing in 2018, according to his LinkedIn profile. Before the change, Gustavsson was a 737 technical pilot for roughly 5 years, according to his LinkedIn profile. Gustavsson and Forkner were part of a team that worked on the flight manuals airlines now used since the 737 MAX entered service in 2017, and fielded operations and systems questions from dozens of global airlines operating thousands of 737 aircraft globally, former employees told Reuters in late October. Forkner had worked to calibrate the 737 MAX simulator software to identify and fix glitches and make it feel as much as possible like the aircraft itself. Before Boeing, Gustavsson spent 11 years in various roles such as simulator instructor at Ryanair Holdings PLC , his LinkedIn profile said. While Gustavsson's new role was not immediately clear. If he was made a test pilot in the Test & Evaluation group, he would have likely received a 15%-20% raise, one of the people said.