Great to see Europe standing up to FAA garbage. It was the FAA, in bed with Boeing, who literally rubber stamped approval for the 737 Max in the first place which led to the deaths of more than 300 people. But then passenger deaths have never been that much of a concern to the American industry. It's easier for American companies to pay out the insurance for air disasters than spend money preventing them in the first place. The FAA is the corrupt 'regulator' of the American airline industry it is corrupt for the reason that the FAA has the responsibility for both oversight of safety related issues and the promotion of the growth of the industry. Straight conflict of interest.
What doesn't get sufficient mention is that the 737 Max aircraft is inherently aerodynamically unstable. Can you believe that? left to it's own devices in 'level' flight, it will not stay level of its own accord it tends nose down. This is because to compete with the later European Airbus who employed more powerful fuel efficient engines Boeing was losing the race. So Boeing also introduced a newer more powerful fuel efficient engine to its 737. BIG PROBLEM. Boeing's new engine wouldn't fit properly under the wing because of insufficient ground clearance. So they decided to move the engines forward and upwards to provide sufficient ground clearance under the wing. NEW PROBLEM. Moving a couple of 5 tonne engines forward altered the centre of gravity of the plane affecting flight stability.
What to do? Boeing decided it would overcome the 737 Max instability problem with a piece of software which compensated for the 'nose down' tendency by forcing via software the plane's control surfaces to lift the nose. So a basic aerodynamic geometry flaw is fudged with software. Nice one. Then the Boeing masterstroke. They decided not to tell the people responsible for flying this contraption about the software fudge. Can you believe that?
I guess we shouldn't be surprised about the deceit of Boeing and the FAA. American corporate and cultural arrogance has allowed them to lie and deceive with impunity. If they can invade and destroy entire countries based on proven lies then a triviality about airline safety shouldn't come as much of a surprise.
