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Boeing Crash
A hearing set for Wednesday in federal court in Texas could provide families of the victims killed in two crashes of Boeing 737 Max jetliners with their final opportunity to demand that the company face criminal prosecution. US District Chief Judge Reed O'Connor will hear arguments on a motion by the federal government to dismiss a felony fraud charge against Boeing in connection with the crashes that killed 346 people off the coast of Indonesia and in Ethiopia. In exchange, Boeing said it would pay or invest another USD 1.1 billion in fines, compensation for the crash victims' families, and internal safety and quality measures. Prosecutors have said that Boeing deceived government regulators about a flight-control system that was later implicated in the fatal flights, which happened less than five months apart in 2018 and 2019. The hearing in Fort Worth comes more than four years after the Justice Department first announced it had charged Boeing in January 2021 and reached a USD 2
Pilots' grouping ALPA-India on Thursday said the crew of the crashed AI 171 flight made every possible effort to protect the passengers onboard and they deserve respect, not unfounded character judgements. The Air Line Pilots' Association - India (ALPA India) has been demanding a transparent probe into the crash that killed 260 people on June 12. Air India's Boeing 787-8 aircraft enroute from Ahmedabad to London Gatwick crashed into a building soon after take off and the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) came out with its preliminary report into the accident on July 12. "Pilots are trained professionals who carry the responsibility of hundreds of lives with dedication and dignity. "The crew of AI 171 made every possible effort -- till their very last breath -- to protect the passengers on board and minimize harm on the ground. They deserve respect, not unfounded character judgments," ALPA India said in a statement. While the preliminary report does not give any conclus
The Federation of Indian Pilots (FIP) on Thursday asked the government to reassess possible technical misinterpretation or mechanical faults in Air India's Boeing 787-8 plane that crashed last month and sought inclusion of subject matter experts in the probe. Flagging concerns about Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau's (AAIB) preliminary report into the crash that killed 260 people on June 12, the federation said the report failed to sufficiently consider or acknowledge two plausible and previously documented technical scenarios, either of which could have triggered an automated shutdown of both engines. FIP has written a letter to the civil aviation ministry raising various concerns related to the crash probe and the preliminary report, according to a source. While appreciating the timely release of the preliminary findings, the federation also said the initial report appears to infer or suggest the possibility of pilot error, without presenting any conclusive evidence or ...
Singapore Airlines on Tuesday said all fuel switches on its Boeing 787 aircraft -- as well as those belonging to its subsidiary Scoot -- are functioning properly in compliance with regulatory requirements. "As a precautionary measure, SIA and Scoot have carried out and completed checks on the fuel switches of the Boeing 787 aircraft in our fleet," the Channel News Asia quoted SIA as saying. SIA has 26 B787 planes in its fleet, while its low-cost, wholly owned subsidiary Scoot has 23. "The safety of our customers and staff is our top priority," said SIA, which is a 25.1 per cent partner of Air India and operator of daily SIA-Scoot flights to India. The Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) is also working with SIA and Scoot to conduct inspections of the fuel control switches of all active Singapore-registered Boeing 737, 787 and 747-400F aircraft, according to the Channel report. "There have been no findings from the inspections to date," CAAS said. India, South Korea, and
Officials investigating the Air India plane crash on Sunday confirmed that the Cockpit Voice Recorder black box has been found, a crucial discovery which will help identify the possible cause behind the deadly crash that killed 270 persons, including 241 persons on board. Earlier, the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) had confirmed that only the Flight Data Recorder (FDR) of the ill-fated plane was found. The officials confirmed the recovery of black boxes to P K Mishra, the Principal Secretary to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who on Sunday inspected the Air India plane crash site in Ahmedabad and also visited the civil hospital where injured persons are undergoing treatment. Mishra chaired a high-level review meeting at Circuit House here and discussed ongoing relief, rescue, and investigation efforts with senior officials from the Central and state governments, Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB), and Airports Authority of India, an official release ...
A team of US investigators including representatives from Boeing have examined the site of a plane crash that killed 179 people in South Korea while authorities were conducting safety inspections on all Boeing 737-800 aircraft operated by the country's airlines. All but two of the 181 people aboard the Boeing 737-800 operated by South Korean budget airline Jeju Air died in Sunday's crash. Video showed the aircraft, without its landing gear deployed, crash-landed on its belly and overshoot a runaway at South Korea's southern Muan International Airport before it slammed into concrete fence and burst into a flame. The plane was seen having an engine trouble, and preliminary examinations also say the pilots received a bird strike warning from the ground control centre and issued a distress signal as well. But many experts say the landing gear issue was likely the main cause of the crash. The South Korean government has launched safety inspections on all the 101 Boeing 737-800s in the ..
As many as 56 Boeing 737 Max planes are being operated by Indian carriers, and no engine failures have been reported by them recently, the government said on Thursday. Giving details about the number of operational Boeing 737 MAX aircraft in the country, the civil aviation ministry said Air India Express has 25 such planes while Akasa Air has 24 and SpiceJet 7. "No engine failures have been reported by the Indian operators related to the Boeing 737 Max aircraft recently," Minister of State for Civil Aviation Murlidhar Mohol said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha. Out of the total fleet of 56 Boeing 737 Max aircraft registered and operating in India, he said there has been one recent occurrence in May 2024 on B737 Max aircraft of SpiceJet, wherein engine No 2 oil filter bypass light illuminated. "As a precautionary measure, single engine landing was carried out by the pilot in command and the aircraft landed safely. As intimated by the airlines crew and passengers have not reporte
After two jetliner crashes killed 346 people, a USD 2.5 billion settlement that let Boeing avoid criminal prosecution failed to resolve questions about the safety of the aerospace giant's planes. Federal prosecutors now accuse the company of failing to live up to terms of the 2021 settlement. Boeing has agreed to plead guilty to a felony fraud charge in a new deal with the Justice Department. The department hopes to file the detailed plea agreement Friday, but says it may need a few more days. Experts on corporate behaviour say whether the new agreement has a more lasting impact on safety than the earlier settlement could come down to how much power is placed in the hands of an independent monitor who is assigned to oversee Boeing for three years. Prosecutors made the appointment of such a monitor a condition of the plea deal, which also calls for Boeing to pay a new USD 243.6 million fine. Your real concern is protecting against the loss of future lives in future crashes, and that
Boeing will plead guilty to a criminal fraud charge stemming from two deadly crashes of 737 Max jetliners after the government determined the company violated an agreement that had protected it from prosecution for more than three years, the Justice Department said Sunday night. Federal prosecutors gave Boeing the choice this week of entering a guilty plea and paying a fine as part of its sentence or facing a trial on the felony criminal charge of conspiracy to defraud the United States. Prosecutors accused the American aerospace giant of deceiving regulators who approved the airplane and pilot-training requirements for it. The plea deal, which still must receive the approval of a federal judge to take effect, calls for Boeing to pay an additional $243.6 million fine. That was the same amount it paid under the 2021 settlement that the Justice Department said the company breached. An independent monitor would be named to oversee Boeing's safety and quality procedures for three ...
US lawmakers prepared to press Boeing's chief executive Tuesday about the company's latest plan to fix its manufacturing problems, and relatives of people who died in two crashes of Boeing 737 Max jetliners were in the room to remind him of what was at stake. CEO David Calhoun appeared before the Senate investigations subcommittee, which is chaired by Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., a Boeing critic. Blumenthal opened the hearing by recognising the relatives of the crash victims and the family of a Boeing whistleblower who died by suicide earlier this year. This hearing is a moment of reckoning, the senator said. "It's about a company, a once iconic company, that somehow lost its way." Calhoun's appearance before Congress was the first by a high-ranking Boeing official since a panel blew out of a 737 Max during an Alaska Airlines flight in January. No one was seriously injured in the incident, but it raised fresh concerns about the company's best-selling commercial aircraft. Calho