SECOND TAKE
CHICAGO TRIBUNE: Boeing will have to be more transparent if 737 Max flies again
Manufacturer withheld information about flight control software at the centre of two crashes
On October 29 2018, Lion Air flight 610 crashed into the Java Sea shortly after take-off, killing all 189 passengers and crew. Less than five months later (https://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-biz-viz-boeing-737-max-crash-timeline-04022019-story.html), Ethiopian Air flight 302 plummeted shortly after departure, killing 157 people. The model at the centre of both crashes was the 737 Max, built by Chicago-based Boeing.
Now, after a six-month hiatus, Boeing’s production of the passenger jets has resumed. Can the flying public, already rattled by the enduring Covid-19 pandemic, feel safe aboard a 737 Max? Government test flights have wrapped up, though the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) still has to analyse data from those flights. If everything goes as planned, however, the aircraft-maker could get the FAA-ordered grounding of 737 Max jets lifted as soon as September 2020, and the airliners could take to the skies with passengers aboard by the end of the year...
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