Washington, DC–The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) ordered today the temporary grounding of Boeing 737 MAX aircraft operated by U.S. airlines or in U.S. territory.
In its statement, FAA said the agency made this decision as a result of the 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.
According to FAA, the grounding will remain in effect pending further investigation, including examination of information from the aircraft’s flight data recorders and cockpit voice recorders. An FAA team is in Ethiopia assisting the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) as parties to the investigation of the Flight 302 accident.
The Boeing Company made the grounding recommendation to FAA “out of an abundance of caution”, according to Boeing.
“We are supporting this proactive step out of an abundance of caution,” said Dennis Muilenburg, president, CEO, Chairman of Boeing. “Safety is a core value at Boeing for as long as we have been building airplanes; and it always will be.”
