OTTAWA TO KEEP BOEING MAX PLANE GROUNDED FOR NOW, DESPITE U.S. DECISION
Nov 18, 2020
By Bob Komsic
Share on
The longest grounding in commercial aviation history is coming to an end as Washington agrees to allow the Boeing 737 MAX to resume flights by the end of this year.
The plane was grounded worldwide in March 2019 after crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia that killed 346, including 18 Canadians, and led to Boeing’s biggest crisis in decades.
The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration is requiring new training to deal with a key safety system called MCAS or Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System, that’s faulted for the two crashes, as well as significant new safeguards and other software changes.
Investigators found the crashes were caused by faulty sensors that pushed the planes nose downward in flight.
Meanwhile, Canada will not immediately follow the U.S. decision.
Minister of Transport Marc Garneau says Canada will impose different requirements for its operators before lifting the grounding orders, including more procedures on the flight deck and pre-flight and difference in training.
Garneau adds he expects Transport Canada’s validation process to ”conclude very soon.”