WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 12th March, 2019) US aviation authorities will order Boeing to make changes to a flight correction system of its 737 Max 8 aircraft but have certified the plane's airworthiness following two deadly crashes in recent months, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said in a statement.
On Sunday, a Nairobi-bound Boeing 737 Max 8, operated by Ethiopian Airlines, crashed minutes after take-off from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. All 157 people from over 30 countries who were on board were killed.
The FAA is calling for design changes to the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS), which is supposed to reduce the risk of the airplane's nose pitching up after take-off.
"The FAA anticipates mandating these design changes ... no later than April 2019," the statement said on Monday.
The US aviation agency will take immediate action if it identifies any issues with Boeing 737 Max that affect flight safety, it added.
The latest crash in Ethiopia is the second fatal incident involving the narrow-body aircraft in less than five months. In late October 2018, another Boeing 737 MAX 8, operated by Indonesia's Lion Air, plunged into the Java Sea shortly after take-off, claiming the lives of 189 people.
While external reports have compared Sunday's accident in Ethiopia to a similar crash of a Boeing 737 Max 8 in Indonesia in October, the FAA said that it has not been provided data to draw any conclusions or take any actions.
