Posted on 03/13/2019 2:18:13 PM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum
President Donald Trump announced an emergency order from the Federal Aviation Administration on Wednesday grounding Boeing 737 Max jets in the wake of an Ethiopian Airlines crash Sunday and a Lion Air accident in October that together killed 346 people.
Trump's announcement came as the FAA faced mounting pressure from aviation advocates and others to ban flights of the planes pending the completion of investigations into the crash Sunday that killed 157 people and the accident in Indonesia in October in which 189 people perished.
. "We’re going to be issuing an emergency order of prohibition to ground all flights of the 737 Max 8 and the 737 Max 9 and planes associated with that line," Trump announced, referring to "new information and physical evidence that we’ve received" in addition to some complaints.
The FAA said the decision to ground the jets came after the agency found that the Ethiopian Airlines jet had a flight pattern before crashing very similar to the Lion Air flight path.
“It became clear that the track of the Ethiopian flight behaved very similarly to the Lion Air flight," said Steven Gottlieb, deputy director of accident investigation for the FAA.
(Excerpt) Read more at nbcnews.com ...
Appeal already filed with 9th circuit
He should have said that from now on only Democrats will be allowed to fly in the 737 MAX 8 and 737 MAX 9.
Democrats: Oh it’s not an emergency! Impeach, impeach, impeach...
“Appeal already filed with 9th circuit.”
Lol, the 9th will probably uphold the appeal just because it goes against Trump.
On a more serious note; it would be instructive for those who are against grounding the Max to read the history of the British Coment. The Brits, being the leader in early jet technology were eager after WWII to be the first to develop and bring on-line a commercial jetliner. And, they were indeed the first with the Comet. However, not very long after going into service the plane had some fatal crashes. The Brits, not wanting to loose their lead kept the comet flying instead of grounding it until the problem could be identified and corrected which by the way was wing fatigue. Long story short, the public lost confidence in the Comet and the British aero industry never recovered. Did this from memory so forgive me if I got a few details incorrect.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/3734373/posts
Trump GROUNDS Boeing 737 Max planes - ‘effective immediately’ - after U.S. was [tr]
86 comments
While the right thing to do, I have one concern with Trump doing this. If an affected aircraft fails after he lifts the restriction, the left and the media will blame Trump.
That’s the thing about Trump. He does what he thinks is right, not what a focus group thinks he should do.
No it was fuselage rupture under pressurization.
Fatigue cracks developed because the Brits used square passenger window frames. The cracks propagated from the apex of the square window frames and allowed the cabin to explosively depressurize.
The design fix was to reshape the window openings as ovals eliminating the stress points.
LOL. Agreed.
Except for that ethanol thingy.
It was more than just that: the skin of the original Comet I’s were also too thin. As such, when Boeing built the 367-80 prototype, the skin of the plane was a bit thicker for structural integrity reasons.
At this point no one knows what caused the crashes but political pressure and rampant speculation caused the FAA to ground all 737 Max 8 and 9 aircraft. Will be interesting to see how this plays out.
Quote:
“The Brits, not wanting to loose their lead kept the comet flying instead of grounding it until the problem could be identified and corrected which by the way was wing fatigue.
No it was fuselage rupture under pressurization.
Fatigue cracks developed because the Brits used square passenger window frames. The cracks propagated from the apex of the square window frames and allowed the cabin to explosively depressurize.
The design fix was to reshape the window openings as ovals eliminating the stress points. “
De Havilland had made the aircraft’s skin too thin, and the rupture started from the square shaped ADF aerial cutout panel. The passenger windows themselves were not the problem, but were at risk should the aircraft keep flying as it was. The fix to this was to use thicker gauge material for the aircraft skin and redesign the window shape. By the time those fixes were made, the damage to the Comet’s reputation was done, and just like with the DC-10 issues, I suspect that the 737 Max series will have a short run after this fiasco.
I thought the Comets square windows fatigued and blew out. Was that another plane?
No, the cause was determined to be metal fatigue from pressurization cycles, starting from weak points such as rivet holes and openings in the metal fuselage.
The Brits, being the leader in early jet technology
Some would argue that that honor went to the Germans although the French were first with the idea, and Whittle was the first to make one work. It took von Ohain to get one to fly.
I wonder how many H1B Visas were used to design and build that aircraft? Don’t forget the software.
The windows were fine. It was the metal around the windows (and other openings) that was the problem.
Oh, and let me say: “In before the Boeing social media team”.
"Evidence of fatigue cracking was found that originated from the aft lower corner of the forward escape hatch (window) and also from the right-hand aft corner of the windows"
The most notable lesson learned from the Comet disaster is that viewing windows are no longer designed square but with rounded edges to reduce any stress concentrations. Another immediate lessons is that crack-stoppers are now placed between frame-cutouts that take the shape of circumferential stiffeners that break-up the fuselage into multiple sections and thus prevent the crack from propagating from one window to the next.
The final clue, revealing the weakness in the Comet’s structure, turned up on June 24 in the tank at Farnborough, where the immersed test Comet had been subjected to the equivalent of 9,000 flying hours. Instruments showed a sudden drop in cabin pressure, indicating that something had happened in the tank.
When the drains were opened and the water flooded out, scientists stared in grim amazement. Repeated pressurization had caused the fuselage to split. One fracture started in the corner of a window atop the aircraft where radio aerials were housed and continued for eight feet, passing directly through a window frame in its path.
Read more: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/comets-tale-63573615/#M587xiHY61qmw6ra.99 Give the gift of Smithsonian magazine for only $12! http://bit.ly/1cGUiGv Follow us: @SmithsonianMag on Twitter
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