Jakarta, Jan 9 (EFE).- Indonesian authorities temporarily suspended the operations of three Boeing 737 Max 9 aircraft from Lion Air after an aircraft of the same model from Alaska Airlines lost part of its fuselage in flight.
Following the incident on Friday in the United States, the Indonesian aviation regulator conducted a “review and evaluation” of the three Boeing aircraft, the only ones of this model operated in the country, and decided to ground them from Saturday until further notice, a statement said on Tuesday.
Indonesian authorities took the step as a precaution since Lion Air’s planes have a different configuration than the plane that had to make an emergency landing in the US after a panel on the left side of the aircraft detached, with no serious injuries reported.
The panel was used to seal a gap designed to accommodate an additional emergency door, a common feature in aircraft that operates with low passenger density.
The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) immediately ordered the temporary grounding of 171 Boeing planes equipped with the same panel until the causes are determined.
United Airlines, the most affected airline along with Alaska Airlines, said on Monday that it had found loose screws on its Boeing 737 Max 9 aircraft.
“The Directorate General of Civil Aviation will coordinate with the FAA, Boeing, and Lion Air to continue monitoring the situation and will provide more information as the situation develops. Safety and the protection of air operations remain our priority,” the Indonesian statement said.
Other airlines that have this Boeing model in their fleet include Panama’s Copa Airlines, Mexico’s Aeromexico, Iceland Air, Turkish Airlines, and FlyDubai.
This recent incident has once again brought the Boeing 737 Max aircraft into scrutiny. The 737 Max series faced global grounding for approximately two years following two accidents involving the 737 Max 8 model, leading to 346 deaths in Indonesia and Ethiopia in 2019 and 2020.
Investigations into these incidents revealed that the flight control software provided incorrect information, causing the aircraft to assume a descent position despite attempts by pilots to counteract the erroneous instructions. EFE
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