America ’s top air functionary on Wednesday defended the Trump administration ’s decision not to immediately freeze manipulation of the Boeing 737 Max 8 earlier this month following the deadly crash of Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 , even as airmanship officials in nigh every other country choose to ground the jets .
In testimonial before a Senate subcommittee , Daniel Elwell , the acting administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration , argued that , while his agency was the last major holdout , it was first to ground Boeing ’s Max fleet “ with data . ”
The investigation is on-going , but air - safety officials have advert preliminary indications that the March 10 crash may have been get by a standardised malfunction that , in October , pass to the crash of the Lion Air Boeing 737 Max in Indonesia . virtually 350 rider died in the two accidents ; there were no survivors .
The organisation implicate is sleep together as the MCAS , or Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System . The system of rules is contrive to help original usingfly - by - wiresystems to receive proper feedback in fiat to preclude an airplane from stalling . Questions have been put forward about whether pilots of the 737 Max 8 and 9 should have received training on how to respond when the MCAS unexpectedly engages and , as in the case of Lion Air Flight 610 , forces the nose of plane downward .
Elwell sound out that in the quick aftermath of the collapse , Ethiopian trajectory ’s track data , which recorded the jet ’s peak , speed , and other essential information , was not reliable . It was n’t until Wednesday , March 13 , that the FAA received a dependable trajectory track , according to Elwell . “ That data point was rarify on Tuesday night , into Wednesday , by the company that actually received the data through their planet system , ” he said .
With help from Boeing and the National Transportation Safety Board — whose chairman , Robert Sumwalt , also testified on Wednesday — Elwell say the data point was rarify . It was at this point that the FAA first saw evidence of a striking correlational statistics between the two crashes . “ When you have the possible action of a link between two accidents of the same type aircraft , it ’s prudent to ground them until you find what that tie-in is , extenuate that link , ” he said .
weightlift by lawmakers on the FAA ’s conclusion to delay grounding the fleet of aircraft , Elwell said his agency acted only after it had reliable data to inform its sound judgement .
“ The important affair to know about using datum — we may have been , I think someone said , the last country to bray the aircraft , but the United States and Canada were the first countries to ground the aircraft with data ; for reason and design , ” he say , adding : “ When you mash a fleet of aircraft for a intellect , a definable reasonableness , then you have something by which to un - ground them when you ’ve mitigated that or you ’ve solve it or you ’ve happen that link . ”
Added Elwell : “ I ca n’t speak to the reasoning that the other country ’s took . I know that in communication with those area , in our request for what information might they have , they did not have any data for us . ”
Calvin Scovell , the inspector general of the U.S. Department of Transportation , tell lawgiver that faith in the FAA as the “ golden monetary standard for aviation safe ” has been “ stimulate . ” He said his power was currently researching the question of why the FAA delay grounding the planes , as well as why the FAA approved purpose of the MCAS system — or the extent of FAA ’s “ liaison in Boeing ’s decision to sanction it”—and how FAA reached its decision that fender did not need additional training .
In a press briefing Wednesday , Boeing officials told reporter the fellowship was tight to rolling out an update for the MCAS , while remark that FAA officials had already flown on jets with patched software program .
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