Chef varnade för ”en fabrik i kaos” före olyckorna

In March 2019, aviation authorities around the world grounded the Boeing 737 MAX passenger airliner after two new airplanes crashed within five months, killing all 346 people aboard. After the first accident, Lion Air Flight 610 on October 29, 2018, pilots sharply criticized Boeing for failing to inform them of a newly implemented flight control feature, the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS), which repeatedly forced the aircraft to nosedive. Boeing and the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued urgent messages emphasizing a flight recovery procedure. On March 10, 2019, Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 crashed despite the pilots' attempts to use the procedure, and the airline grounded its MAX fleet effective that day. On March 11, the Civil Aviation Administration of China was the first regulator to ground the MAX, citing similarity between the accidents, followed by all other authorities through March 18. The FAA initially affirmed the "Continued Airworthiness" of the aircraft on March 11, but grounded it on March 13, due to new evidence showing the possibility of a shared cause for the two accidents. The worldwide grounding affected 387 MAX airplanes making 8,600 weekly flights with 59 airlines. The U.S. Congress and Department of Transportation began investigations of FAA type certification of the airplane, especially the delegation of authority to Boeing to self-approve much of its engineering work. In October 2019, the Indonesian National Transportation Safety Committee identified nine contributing factors to the Lion Air accident, relating to airplane design flaws, inadequate certification and safety regulation, maintenance errors, and actions by flight crews. In November 2019, the FAA revoked Boeing's authority to issue airworthiness certificates for individual MAX airplanes. The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) faulted Boeing's assumption that pilots could quickly disable MCAS, and the Joint Authorities Technical Review (JATR) found insufficient evaluation of the system and the effect of automation on pilot performance. Following the grounding orders, Boeing halted deliveries and reduced production of the MAX. Airlines do not expect to resume flights until March 2020 or later. The airplane's return to service depends on worldwide review of MCAS revision, flight control computer system changes, and pilot training requirements. As of November 2019, the grounding cost Boeing up to $10 billion in revenue and compensation to airlines and bereaved families. Boeing also faced lawsuits from airline pilots and families of victims.