At last some solution to the Max electrical issue can be expected before summer holidays are at peak ! Boeing revealed on Wednesday that, it had received approval from the U.S. aviation authorities for proposed fixes to an electrical issue that resulted grounding of 100s of B737 Max aircrafts for more than a month.
It was also established that,the lack of secure electrical grounding could potentially cause malfunctions in many other electrical systems, which can be the engine anti-ice system and the auxiliary power unit (APU) of the aircraft.
During the FAA’s re-review of the B737 MAX horizontal stabilizer control system , it was revealed that the physical separation of the horizontal stabilizer trim-arm wiring and the horizontal stabilizer trimcontrol wiring does not meet the criteria specified in 14 CFR 25.1707.
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For the first time, the B737 Max aircraft fleet was grounded globally in March 2019 after the twin crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia killing 346 people.
On 18th November 2020, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration cleared the fleet to fly again with conditions, that Boeing and operators updated the Max’s flight control software and rerouted some electrical wiring, changes to the AFM, training among other changes.
In December, Brazilian airline GOL became the 1st airline in the world to fly passengers on the Boeing 737 Max in almost 2 years since the crashes bringing some relief to the Max operators and Boeing.
But last month, Boeing said it had notified 16 airlines and other customers of a potentiual eletrical issue with certain B737Max MSNs and recommended that they temporarily stop flying some planes.
In late April, the regulator released an AD (Airworthiness Directive) that the electrical power systems on a new B737 Max 8 airplane “did not perform as expected” during routine tests before it delivered to an airline. It said the same issue affected certain MSNs of the 737 Max 8 and the 737 Max 9.
The airworthiness directive also said that, design changes to support panels in the Max’s flight deck, had resulted in “insufficient electrical grounding of installed equipment.”
The issues could have resulted in loss of critical functions in the flight deck, the AD read. FAA had directed Boeing to submit the comments about proposed modifications by mid-June.
On wednesday, Boeing said in a brief statement that it had received final approval from the regulator for the proposed modifications and issued “service bulletins for the affected fleet.”
Boeing also said airlines were preparing to return the affected jets to service and that it planned to resume deliveries of the plane. However a timeline on return to service was not specified by Boeing.
At present, around 109 Boeing B737 Max jets are grounded due to the electrical issue,out of which 71 are US registered or comes under the regulation of FAA. Affected airlines are eagerly waiting for a fix of the electrical issue, as they anticipate a busy summer ahead !
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