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Transportation Ministry inspecting 11 grounded 737 Max 8 planes
“We are inspecting 10 aircraft owned by Lion Air and one owned by Garuda Indonesia,” said the Transportation Ministry's flight navigation director, Asri Santoso.
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A Lion Air Boeing 737 Max 8 plane. (Courtesy of Lion Air/-)
T
he Transportation Ministry is inspecting 11 grounded Boeing 737 Max 8 planes following the Ethiopian Airlines crash in Addis Ababa on Sunday.
“We are inspecting 10 aircraft owned by Lion Air and one owned by Garuda Indonesia,” said the ministry’s flight navigation director, Asri Santoso, in Makassar on Wednesday as quoted by kompas.com.
Asri added that the planes were being inspected by a special division called the airworthy and plane operation directorate, saying inspectors would check all elements related to the airworthiness of the planes.
“The team will focus on angle of attack (AOA) sensors that measure the degree of the plane while taking off as well as wind and speed sensors.”
She said the government would allow the planes to operate or not based on the results of the investigation.
Meanwhile, the general manager of state-owned airplane navigation firm AirNav Indonesia’s Makassar branch, Novy Pantaryanto, said a 737 Max 8 plane was currently parked at Hasanuddin International Airport after it was flown from Saudi Arabia on Tuesday.
“Initially, the plane should have been flown to Jakarta this evening, but we asked Lion Air to replace it with a Boeing 737-900 ER,” he added, saying the plane would remain at the airport until a decision was made by the Transportation Ministry.
The ministry temporarily grounded the 737 Max 8 aircraft on Monday, following the crash in Addis Ababa. The authorities in other countries like France, Germany, China, South Korea and Singapore have also prohibited the planes from flying. (bbn)
