China grounds Boeing 737 MAX planes after Ethiopian air crash

[Eugene]

Earlier today in LBN: Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 crashes near Addis Ababa

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Source: CNN

China grounds Boeing 737 MAX planes after Ethiopian air crash

By Ben Westcott and Serenitie Wang, CNN
Updated 0245 GMT (1045 HKT) March 11, 2019

(CNN) — The Chinese government has grounded all Boeing 737 MAX 8 jets, after an Ethiopian Airlines plane of the same model crashed shortly after take-off killing everyone onboard.

The Civil Aviation Administration of China said in a statement on Monday morning that all domestic Boeing 737 MAX 8 jets would be out of action until 6 p.m. local time, due to its principle of "zero tolerance for safety hazards."

The Ethiopian Airlines incident was second time in less than six months that a brand-new Boeing aircraft has crashed just minutes into a flight. A Lion Air Boeing 737 MAX 8 flight went down over the Java Sea in late October, killing all 189 people on board.

"Given in both air crashes, the aircrafts were newly delivered Boeing 737 MAX 8, and both accidents occur during the take-off, they share certain similarities," the administration said in a statement.

-snip-

Read more: https://edition.cnn.com/2019/03/10/africa/china-boeing-ethiopian-air-crash-intl/index.html

[harumph]

1. Any plane is unsafe if not maintained.

[Eugene]

2. These were brand new planes.

The Lion Air crash showed an issue with the plane's new flight control system. The plane in today's crash showed alarmingly similar behavior.

New York Times: Boeing Faces Questions About Its New 737 Max Jets After Ethiopia Crash

The trouble appeared to begin almost immediately after takeoff. The pilots told air traffic controllers that they were having technical problems. And the plane seemed to repeatedly climb and dive before a final plunge.

Two eerily similar scenes have played out in recent months for Boeing’s brand-new 737 Max jets: on Sunday, when an Ethiopian Airlines flight crashed just after taking off from Addis Ababa, killing 157 people, and in October, when a Lion Air disaster killed 189 people in Indonesia.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/10/business/boeing-737-max.html

[gyroscope]

3. Indonesia Airlines poor safety record

it seems an Indonesian airliner is going down at least once a year.

what is it with this country and its terrible safety record with passenger airplanes.