As soon as Boeing received permission from Chinese regulators to resume flights, the rudder of the 737 MAX nearly fell off due to the loss of hardware. So under all kinds of hidden dangers, can China really continue to buy this kind of model, and why is the 737MAX grounded?
On December 28, the Federal Aviation Administration said that aircraft manufacturer Boeing is urging airlines to check their 737 MAX rudder control systems for possible looseness. If further conditions such as loose or missing hardware are discovered, Boeing will consider additional action. Why did Boeing suddenly inspect the rudder of the 737 MAX? Here's the thing, after an international airline was performing routine maintenance on its rudder control linkage and found that the rudder had almost fallen off because a bolt was missing a nut. And Boeing also found another undelivered plane, one of the nuts was not tightened.
Although Boeing says the aircraft has been remedied, production and delivery of the aircraft will continue without being affected. However, you must know that the rudder is used to control the yaw movement of the aircraft, that is, to control the direction of the aircraft, if even the rudder has a problem, or even faces the risk of falling off, then it is tantamount to a high-speed car steering wheel suddenly fails, does this not expose all the personnel on the plane to danger? If Boeing cannot even guarantee the minimum safety of passengers, how can the airlines and passengers trust. Not to mention, is there less time for Boeing to remedy? Since January 2020, Boeing has suspended production of the 737 MAX model, and this type of model has also been grounded. Why was it grounded?
I don't know if you have heard of the two large-scale air crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia in 2018 and 2019, when the two planes involved were Boeing's 737 MAX passenger planes, which directly killed 346 people, and once saddened the international community. And these two air crashes were due to problems in the design of the aircraft's control system software and display system software, to put it bluntly, that is, the 737MAX passenger aircraft produced by Boeing has major safety risks. Because of this, the 737MAX has been called Boeing's "lethal technology", and its credibility has declined sharply, and it was required to terminate operations by the Federal Aviation Administration in 2019, and began to enter a grounding state in January of the following year, requiring Boeing to conduct a series of test flights before it can resume flights.
In this case, it stands to reason that after the grounding, Boeing has every opportunity and time to increase its efforts to study the technology of the 737 MAX and other issues, and it is only right to be more attentive. But now it seems that Boeing still can't do it to reassure passengers, even if there are no technical problems now, but there are also great hidden dangers in this small detail, after all, any detail on the plane is related to the lives of everyone on board. I don't know if it is caused by Boeing's eagerness to get the 737 MAX back to flight, during its grounding, Airbus can be said to have become the first choice of various airlines, Boeing is naturally not far behind, eager to return to flight. Western countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada approved the application for the 737 MAX to resume flying in their own countries as early as 2021, while China did not approve its resumption of flight until December 20 this year.
At present, Boeing's 737 MAX aircraft delivered in the past have resumed flights in China, and on December 20, Boeing received key clearance from Chinese regulators, which means that Boeing is one step closer to continuing to deliver 737 MAX aircraft to China. However, one cannot help but wonder if Boeing has just received a resumption of flights from China, and its plane has suffered a serious failure, which can be said to have once again failed China's trust. Under such circumstances, can the Chinese side continue to purchase 737 MAX aircraft? I am afraid that a question mark will be drawn now. Although Boeing has now said that in addition to inspecting the rudders, it will also inspect the maintenance panels, but if Boeing wants to avoid losing China's large aviation market, whether it can continue to deliver aircraft to the Chinese side, I am afraid that Boeing itself has to come up with safety guarantees, otherwise it may be difficult for China to continue to buy this type of aircraft. After all, once the Chinese side buys it, then it has to be put into use, and the Chinese side must also be responsible for all Chinese passengers, including the captain.