The setbacks continue for the 737 MAX: five months after the plane returned to flight, Boeing asked some of its customers to no longer use certain aircraft, the time to resolve a “potential electrical problem”.
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The American aircraft manufacturer announced Friday, without naming them, having asked 16 companies operating 737 MAXs not to fly them anymore, the time to resolve it.
“The recommendation is made to allow verification of the existence of a sufficient earth connection for a component of the electrical supply system”, explains the American aircraft manufacturer in a press release.
In a circuit, earth is used to prevent a possible electrical overload when the device is poorly insulated.
Asked by AFP, the American aircraft manufacturer said the problem was discovered “during construction” of a device, specifying that its support could take “a few hours or a few days”.
The number of devices affected, as well as the identity of the customers, was not specified. Some 450 Boeing 737 MAX have been delivered to 49 airlines and lessors since this model entered service.
American Airlines has already said in a statement sent to AFP that it is pinning down 17 of its aircraft – 24 other MAXs are not affected by this problem according to it – and United Airlines has interrupted flights with 16 planes from the range out of the 30 737 MAXs it has in its fleet.
Regarding the company Southwest Airlines, 30 of its 58 737 MAX 8 were left in the garage, although the company claims to have “not experienced operational problems” related to this technical problem.
“We are studying the possibility of replacing planes to minimize the consequences on our customers,” United Airlines also told AFP, while the American aviation gendarme (FAA) wrote in a tweet on Friday that air passengers “should contact their airlines about potential flight delays and cancellations.”
400 devices in the parking lot
More than 400 other aircraft are currently in Boeing parking lots, failing to be delivered while the plane was grounded after two fatal crashes. The aircraft manufacturer will not have finished selling them to its customers until 2022.
Boeing indicates that it is warning its customers of the precisely affected planes. “We will provide them with instructions on the appropriate corrective measures” to take, he adds, without mentioning a delay.
He also says he is working “closely” with the FAA on the issue.
The 737 MAX, a new version of the legendary medium-haul released in 1967, plunged the aircraft manufacturer into one of the most serious crises in its history, tarnishing its reputation for quality and costing it billions of dollars.
The plane was banned from flying in March 2019 after two accidents that killed 346, that of a Lion Air aircraft in Indonesia in October 2018 (189 dead) and that of an Ethiopian Airlines aircraft in March 2019. in Ethiopia (157 dead).
The accidents highlighted a flaw in the MCAS flight control software. Each time, it was after receiving erroneous information from one of the two AOA angle of attack probes, indicating that the aircraft was in a stall, that the MCAS got carried away despite the pilots’ efforts to deactivate it, and had pitched the plane.
The device was cleared for flight again in November in the United States, and then in most parts of the world, after changes to this software, repositioning of some cables and re-training of the pilots.
It is, however, still grounded in China, where 81,737 MAX have been delivered.
Doubts over the aircraft’s reliability had led many airlines to cancel their orders, accounting for 641 MAX in 2020.
However, the device has seen a comeback in recent weeks with its customers, the investment company 777 Partners ordering 24 devices and the American giant SouthWest Arilines 100 copies.