MAX Timeline - MAX betegnelsen skjules av noen selskaper - Curt Lewis

 

FAA appears poised to recertify the 737 Max this week

The Federal Aviation Administration appears poised to recertify the flight worthiness of the 737 Max this week, perhaps as early as Wednesday morning, said sources familiar with an expected FAA announcement.

American Airlines hopes to return 737 MAX to service by end of 2020

The commercial aircraft, which was grounded after two deadly crashes and ongoing reports of safety mismanagement, has not flown nationally or internationally since March 2019.

The FAA did not return calls seeking comment. The grounding of the aircraft followed the deaths of 346 passengers and crew across two catastrophic flights, Lion Air Flight 610 in late 2018 and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 in early 2019.

In the months following the crash, numerous reports — including award-winning coverage by The Seattle Times — outlined a series of management decisions and lax FAA oversight that contributed to the twin disasters.

Ryan Rule, president of one of Boeing’s largest unions, said getting the passenger airplane back in the air will be a boost for the company and employee morale. “I think people took this very personally,” said Rule, the president of the Society of Professional Engineering and Employees in Aerospace (SPEEA).

“If this is happening this week, that’s great news,” Rule said.

In a statement, a Boeing spokesperson said the company, “didn’t have anything to add at this point.” Recertification does not mean the single-aisle airplane will return to service immediately. Thousands of pilots worldwide will require retaining on the Max’s new flight software, originally the issue that helped get the aircraft grounded.

According to a BBC report following the Lion Air crash, a faulty sensor “fed information to the plane’s Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System – or MCAS. That software repeatedly pushed the plane’s nose down, leaving pilots fighting for control.”

Boeing officially announces plan to move 787 production out of Everett by mid-2021

The grounding of the 737 Max, an airline industry workhorse and Boeing’s biggest selling passenger plane, hit the company hard financially, culturally, and reputationally: Victims’ families sued, airlines canceled orders and asked for billions in compensation, and critics lashed the 104-year-old company with allegations of coverups and a corporate culture that put profits over safety.

Those hits, later coupled with the subsequent pandemic which decimated the airline industry, put the nation’s largest aerospace company in dire straights with thousands of layoffs and billions in losses.

Timeline: Events in Boeing's 737 MAX Crisis (Reuters) - U.S. aviation authorities are poised as early as Wednesday to lift a grounding order (https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSKBN27Q00H) on Boeing Co's 737 MAX, a long-delayed major step in a crisis caused by fatal crashes in Ethiopia and Indonesia just five months apart in 2018 and 2019. The disasters killed 346 people, slashed Boeing's profit, prompted lawsuits and investigations, including an active criminal probe by the U.S. Department of Justice. Here is a timeline of events surrounding the 737 MAX: 2017 MARCH 8 - The 737 MAX gains U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) certification. MAY 22 - The 737 MAX enters commercial service on Lion Air subsidiary Malindo Air. 2018 OCT. 29 - A Lion Air 737 MAX plane crashes in Indonesia, killing all 189 people on board. NOV. 13 - FAA, Boeing say they are evaluating the need for software or design changes to 737 MAX jets following the Lion Air crash. NOV. 30 - Boeing weighs plans for a software upgrade for its 737 MAX in six to eight weeks that would help address a scenario faced by crew of Indonesia's Lion Air. 2019 MARCH 10 - An Ethiopian Airlines 737 MAX crashes, killing all 157 people on board. MARCH 12 - FAA says will mandate that Boeing implement design changes on the 737 MAX by April that have been in the works for months. MARCH 13 - FAA joins other major global regulators in grounding the 737 MAX, citing evidence of similarities between the two fatal crashes. APRIL 3 - The FAA says it is forming an international team to review the safety of the now-grounded 737 MAX that will be headed by a formal top U.S. safety official. APRIL 6 - Boeing says it will cut monthly 737 MAX production by nearly 20%; U.S. and airline officials say they believe the plane could be grounded for at least two months. APRIL 24 - Boeing abandons its 2019 financial outlook, halts share buybacks and says lowered production due to the 737 MAX grounding has cost it at least $1 billion so far. MAY 5 - Boeing did not tell U.S. regulators for more than a year that it inadvertently made an alarm alerting pilots to a mismatch of flight data optional on the 737 MAX, instead of standard as on earlier 737s. JUNE 17 - Boeing executives take turns apologizing for the loss of life in two 737 MAX crashes and pledge to apply lessons of the crisis to future planes. JULY 24 - Boeing posts its largest-ever quarterly loss due to the spiraling cost of resolving issues with its 737 MAX. SEPT. 25 - Boeing's board of directors creates a new permanent safety committee to oversee development, manufacturing and operation of its aircraft and services. OCT. 22 - Boeing fires Kevin McAllister, the top executive of its commercial airplanes division, marking the first high-level departure since the two fatal crashes. DEC. 12 - Boeing abandons its goal of winning regulatory approval for the 737 MAX to resume flying in December after the FAA said the plane would not be cleared to fly before 2020. DEC. 16 - Boeing says it will suspend 737 production in January, its biggest assembly-line halt in more than 20 years, as fallout from two fatal crashes of the now-grounded aircraft drags on. DEC. 23 - Boeing fires Chief Executive Dennis Muilenburg following a year of intense scrutiny and industrial setbacks set off by twin fatal crashes of the 737 MAX. 2020 MARCH 9 - Ethiopian investigators single out faulty systems on a 737 MAX plane in an interim report on the 2019 Ethiopian Airlines crash, piling pressure on the U.S. jetmaker on the eve of the disaster's anniversary. MARCH 11 - Boeing is freezing new hiring and overtime except in certain critical areas to preserve cash, as the coronavirus outbreak compounds the MAX fallout. - Boeing plans to separate 737 MAX wiring bundles, flagged by regulators as potentially dangerous, before the jet returns to service. MAY 27 - Boeing says it has resumed 737 MAX production at a "low rate", after halting production in January. JUNE 16 - U.S. senators introduce legislation to strengthen FAA oversight of aircraft certification. JUNE 17 - FAA chief Steve Dickson acknowledged Boeing and the U.S. air safety agency both made mistakes on the 737 MAX. JUNE 29 - Boeing begins a series of long-delayed flight tests of its redesigned 737 MAX with regulators at the controls. JULY 7 - Boeing has reached settlement agreements in more than 90% of the wrongful death claims filed in federal court after the 2018 Lion Air 737 MAX crash in Indonesia that killed all 189 people on board. SEPT. 16 - An 18-month investigation by a U.S. House of Representatives panel finds Boeing failed in its design and development of the MAX as well as its transparency with the FAA, and that the FAA failed in its oversight and certification. SEPT. 28 - The leaders of the U.S. House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure introduce bipartisan legislation to reform the FAA's aircraft certification process. SEPT. 30 - FAA Chief Steve Dickson conducts a nearly two-hour evaluation flight at the controls of a Boeing 737 MAX. OCT. 6 - The FAA issues a draft report on revised training procedures for the 737 MAX. OCT. 18 - American Airlines Group says it plans to return 737 MAX jets to service for passenger flights by the end of this year. NOV. 9 - The FAA says it is in the final stages of reviewing proposed changes to the 737 MAX, with sources telling Reuters the FAA was set to lift its grounding order as early as Nov. 18.

Airlines hiding name of Boeing’s 737 MAX as planes set to resume flying Boeing’s troubled 737 MAX is expected to take flight again next week — but in an apparent rebranding move, some airlines are already trying to hide the name. The jetmaker first slapped the “MAX” title to its latest 737 as a marketing strategy in 2011. Billed for its stellar performance, the branding name took a hit after two fatal crashes that left 346 people dead. But after being grounded for nearly two years during a safety-review, Boeing is set to win approval to get the commercial planes back in operation. American Airlines plans to relaunch their MAX flights on Dec. 29 from Miami to New York City. The MAX name will appear on booking systems, but was removed from seat pocket safety cards, sources told Reuters. An American spokeswoman confirmed the move the Reuters, chalking it up as a simplicity measure. “We changed the Boeing 737 safety cards to simplify the cards and ensure the correct card is placed on each aircraft,” the spokeswoman said. “This approach is consistent with other fleet types where we do not have different safety cards for sub-fleets,” she added. In August, Poland’s Enter Air referred to the MAX only as the “737-8” in a news release. The same numbered designation was used last week by Air Canada in a press release on quarterly earnings. “MAX” only appeared in footnotes. Industry insiders predicted to Reuters that the “MAX” name will eventually be phased out. “If Boeing’s customers want it dropped, it will be dropped,” a source told Reuters, adding that some key “customers are saying the name MAX is tainted.”