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Indonesia remains cautious on Boeing 737 Max
The Boeing 737 MAX series was grounded by aviation regulators around the world after two fatal crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia that killed a total of 346 people in 2018 and 2019.
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A Boeing 737 Max 8 owned by Lion Air takes off in this undated handout photo. (Courtesy of Lion Air/-)
T
he Transportation Ministry will conduct independent inspections regarding the Boeing 737 MAX series before allowing Indonesian airlines to fly the aircraft, despite clearance given by the United States’ Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
The ministry’s air transportation director general, Novie Riyanto, said on Thursday the government would not immediately provide clearance for the Boeing 737 MAX to return to Indonesian skies and instead would follow existing re-certification procedures to study the aircraft’s safety.
“We will not automatically allow the aircraft to fly just because the FAA says so. There are certain processes that we need to do to ensure the aircraft’s safety,” he said in an online press conference.
“In addition to coordinating with the FAA, we also have been in close contact with other ASEAN countries as fellow Boeing 737 MAX users to synchronize [our policies]. We are also coordinating with EASA and sharing our lessons learned to ensure maximum passenger safety,” he said, referring to the European Union Aviation Safety Agency.
The Boeing 737 MAX series was grounded by aviation regulators around the world after two fatal crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia that killed a total of 346 people in 2018 and 2019.
Thorough investigations into the crashes concluded that the flight handling system known as the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation Systems (MCAS) that was supposed to prevent the aircraft from stalling, constantly forced the aircraft’s nose downward based on erroneous data from a single airflow sensor.
The FAA on Wednesday cleared the Boeing 737 MAX to return to the skies, ending its 20-month grounding, saying the approval came after "an unprecedented level of collaborative and independent reviews by aviation authorities around the world."
