US lawmakers seek FAA oversight review in wake of MAX groundings

摘要

The crash of an Ethiopian Airlines' Boeing 737 MAX 8 became a watershed moment for US aviation regulatory oversight after sharp divisions emerged about when an aircraft type should be grounded and who makes that decision. The crash of Ethiopian flight 302 minutes after taking off from Addis Ababa March 10 triggered an unprecedented chain of groundings because of similarities with another MAX crash in Indonesia less than five months earlier. Like flight 302, Lion Air MAX 8 flight 610 had just taken off in good weather conditions, appeared to encounter severe control problems almost immediately that prompted the pilot to request emergency clearance for a return to the airport, and then the aircraft went into a rapid and steep descent. All 189 people onboard flight 610 and all 157 people on flight 302 were killed.