US grounds Boeing 737 MAX jets

Washington | The United States joins the line of countries to ban the Boeing 737 MAX 8 jets, after the Ethiopian Airlines crash that killed about 157 people.

The US, which until now, had stood by the American company, finally changed its decision after facing a backlash from its politicians and airport crew.

The FAA, or Federal Aviation Administration, America’s aviation authority, initially had their decision on hold because of “no systemic performance issues” in the jet.

Ethiopian Airlines crash is the second such incident after the crash in Indonesia last year which killed about 189 people, both accidents being of a similar nature.

This led to multiple countries and organisations grounding the Boeing 737 MAX 8 jets, with China taking the lead. The DCGA in India banned the jets on Wednesday 4 PM.

“The grounding will remain in effect pending further investigation, including examination of information from the aircraft’s flight data recorders and cockpit voice recorders,” the FAA said, in a statement announcing the action.

“It became clear the track was very close and behaved similarly to the Lion Air flight,” Elwell, administrator of the FAA said. “My hope is the FAA, the carriers, the manufacturers and all parties will work very hard to make this grounding as short as possible so that these airplanes can get back up in the sky,” he added.

However, they said that their stand changed when satellite information came in and suggested similarities in both the accidents.

“The safety of the American people and all people is our paramount concern,” President Trump assured, “They are all in agreement with the action. Any plane currently in the air will go to its destination and thereafter be grounded until further notice”.

Trump announced that until they find out the problem, the planes will be grounded.