Max 737s tested as Boeing faces uncertain future
(CNS): With the airline industry in turmoil and the Cayman Islands borders closed until at least September, the grounding of Cayman Airways’ newest planes has faded from the headlines. But the problem has not gone away. The US authorities recently took the Boeing 737 Max planes through a series of test fights but it will still be several months before this beleaguered aircraft is allowed to return to the skies.
During three days of testing last month, Federal Aviation Administration pilots and engineers evaluated Boeing’s proposed changes to the automated flight control system on the aircraft. While completion of the flights is an important milestone, a number of key tasks remain, including evaluating the data gathered during these flights, officials said in a release.
The agency said it was following a deliberate process and will take the time it needs to thoroughly review Boeing’s work. “We will lift the grounding order only after FAA safety experts are satisfied that the aircraft meets certification standards,” FAA officials added.
Well over a year after what had become Boeing’s best selling plane was grounded, the manufacturer is still months away from getting approval to fly passengers again.
The 737 Max planes were grounded in March 2019 last year after two crashes that killed 346 people, caused by an automatic safety feature that malfunctioned. But as Boeing inches towards fixing the problem and meeting the FAA requirements, the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on the air industry in general has made things worse for for the company, as orders for the plane are cancelled.
Meanwhile, the FAA recently confirmed that they are also investigating Boeing for another scandal, in which engineers in a controversial aeroplane certification programme complained of pressure from the company.
It is not known when the aircraft will actually take off again but the next step is for the FAA’s Joint Operations Evaluation Board (JOEB) to evaluate minimum pilot training requirements. Then, following a public consultation, the Flight Standardisation Board (FSB) will issue a report.
The FAA will then review Boeing’s final design documentation and its multi-agency Technical Advisory Board (TAB) will also review the final Boeing submission and issue a final report. After than the FAA will issue a Continued Airworthiness Notification to the International Community (CANIC), providing notice of pending significant safety actions and will publish an Airworthiness Directive (AD) that addresses the known issues for grounding.
Operators like Cayman Airways Limited (CAL) will then be notified of the corrective action required before the planes can fly. When the FAA issues the official ungrounding of the aircraft, the airlines will finish that required work and any specified training.
CAL currently has one plane overseas at a storage hanger and one here on Grand Cayman. Two more remain in the US awaiting delivery after CAL decided to stick with the leasing of the planes, despite the challenges.
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More chaos coming sooner than later the Cayman economy is sinking beyond repair and the rulers are not smart enough to do anything about it … Pension fund underfunded borrow $ to pay bills … hand out more $ to make people happy ..all acts of foolishness and no solutions in sight.
Blondie…what a lousy excuse for a minister.
Open a funeral home too to me more rational
Cayman airways pray hard for a hurricane and have faith to collect from insurance. You will not get a dollar from me if I have step foot on them . Invest in the original propeller planes and serve stew turtle,boil conch and bananas with grilled lobster for dessert.
Cayman airways if you’re reading this you need to do better when it come to central and south America destinations I can leave out the Eastern Caribbean islands.
Please take your face out uncle Sam back yard and have monthly flights to these nations and neighbors.
Good luck.
No way no how me or mine is getting on one of those flying coffins.
Pilot training and software reflashes are enough. Unless they are going to fix the wiring, fuselage and other known hardware issues, my family will never again board one of these aircraft. These are the L1011 of our time. Sell them to FedEx for air freighters and get a plane that humans actually trust to go flying in.
More seats for rational people
Open a funeral home too to me more rational
Safer to host a Covid party.
Maybe cannot get out of lease because of drafting of said lease….?
4:43pm The Minister of Tourism must give the details of the leasing company and we will end up its Covid. Why is he dead silent on this catastrophe?? Own up to this liability on CIG. What a mess.
Be interesting to understand why we are persisting with a lease where we cannot use the aircraft. Didn’t make much sense last year – now makes even less. That’s a shed load of money to be paying for an aircraft we cannot fly. Lot of airlines are getting a by or lease reduction for the Covid crisis, let alone not having to pay for an unusable aircraft. How come we are not looking at opportunities to cut the costs? Could it be that we have handcuffed ourselves to a really bad lease we can’t escape from but don’t want to admit to? And how is Cayman Airways going to afford it with minimal revenue and a government who may have to rethink being a bottomless purse for bailing them out given CIG revenue is also in the toilet.
Can you smell another $50M government subsidy in the pipeline?
Not sure they have it. Tide is going to go out and we’ll see who is wearing a swimsuit – all those heavily subsidised operations and quangos better start worrying, because the days of easy government revenue are gone, and if its a choice between continuing to employ a massively oversized civil service versus funding the Turtle Farm , Ofreg or Cayman Airways….
How about. None of the above?
4:42 pm. I smell a rat. Who is walking hand in hand with Leasor/Leasee? Where is our Donald Trump? Is he dodging away from here. The lease is like not allowing cruise ships here – we couldn’t do without them, now the whole world is doing without them. Our words come back to bight us where we feel it most.