Washington, United States:
The US aviation regulator is ordering Boeing to inspect older generation 737 jets, soon after the January crash of an aircraft off Indonesia that killed 62 folks.
All Boeing 737-300, -400 and -500 planes will will need to be examined, a total of 143 aircraft, according to a document from the Federal Aviation Administration seen by AFP on Saturday.
A failure of the “flap synchro wire” missed by the autothrottle computer system — which manages the plane’s thrust — “could result in loss of control of the airplane,” the document mentioned.
An interim report from Indonesian investigators in February mentioned the doomed jet’s throttles showed an “anomaly,” even though it mentioned the bring about of the crash was unclear.
“The preliminary data of the ongoing accident investigation shows that it is highly unlikely that the accident resulted from the latent failure of the flap synchro wire,” the FAA mentioned.
But it mentioned the inspection is “necessary to address the identified unsafe condition” that could be discovered in the planes, which have been constructed in the 1980s and ’90s.
More contemporary iterations of the Boeing 737 — like the 737 MAX that was grounded for 20 months soon after two deadly crashes — have been not impacted by the inspection order.
“Boeing works to ensure that our airplanes are safe and meet all requirements. We are in constant communication with our customers and the FAA, and engaged in ongoing efforts to introduce safety and performance improvements across the fleet,” the organization mentioned in a statement to AFP.
A Sriwijaya Air Boeing 737-500 plunged about 10,000 feet (3,000 meters) in significantly less than a minute prior to slamming into the Java Sea on January 9, minutes soon after taking off from Jakarta.
All 62 folks aboard have been killed.
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