Boeing 737 Max was grounded for approximately two years, after facing two deadly crashes, now after receiving necessary clearances from American and European regulators, at least 20 airline operators have resumed use of Boeing 737 Max once again.
However, India’s aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has denied permission to Flydubai, either to operate the Boeing 737 Max to India or even fly it across the Indian airspace. ET reported.
Boeing’s newest narrow body carrier, 737 Max, have seen two deadly crashes, first in Java sea, soon after taking of from Jakarta in October 2018, followed by another crash in Ethiopia, both accidents together claimed lives of 346 people, owing reasons to design flaws, following the two accidents DGCA has banned used of Boeing 737 Max.
Design flaws found during the investigation are rectified now, new design includes Manoeuvring Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS), which enables manoeuvring of aircraft nose which leads to aircraft stall at high angle of attack, causing aircraft to lose speed and flight, leading to free fall, in previous accidents MCAS has false read the angle of attack leading to accidents. Technical flaws in MCAS reading and some design flaws were identified reasons for accidents by Boeing and US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
With respective corrections in MCAS and training of pilots with new systems, several countries USA, Japan, Europe, Canada, Brazil, Australia and UAE have lifted restrictions, countries such as India and China are yet to approve resume of jetliner.
India is closely monitoring the events concerning Boeing 737 Max, “We are getting weekly updates on the performance of the aircraft…Even though, FAA and EASA have approved the return of the aircraft. We will conduct our own due diligence.” DGCA Direct General Arun Kumar said.
Among Indian airlines, SpiceJet is the only operator of Boeing 737 Max aircraft, it has 13 of the narrow body jetliner in its fleet, waiting to be recertified to fly again.
Flydubai which was denied permission to carry Boeing 737 Max by DGCA is operating same jetliner to other destinations, begun operations to Multan and Karachi (Pakistan) and Tehran (Iran).
233 of Flydubai’s piolits have completed necessary trainings with MCAS and design in place
“The primary objective for everyone involved has been to safely return the aircraft to passenger service and we were pleased to see our passengers once again enjoy the exceptional product on our MAX fleet. They offer unrivalled comfort on a narrow-body aircraft in both our Business and Economy cabins.” Hamad Obaidalla, Chief Commercial Officer of flydubai, said