The agency concluded that it is necessary to conduct “further investigation of the possibility of shared cause for the two incidents.”
In a statement, the FAA said, “The grounding will remain in effect pending further investigation, including examination of information from the aircraft’s flight data recorders and cockpit voice recorders. An FAA team is in Ethiopia assisting the NTSB as parties to the investigation of the Flight 302 accident. The agency will continue to investigate.”
Boeing supports FAA decision to ground 737 Max airplanes
Meanwhile, the Boeing Company (NYSE: BA) released a statement reiterating its strong confidence in the safety of 737 Max airplanes. The company also expressed its support for the temporary suspension of the operations of all 737 Max aircraft worldwide.
The company said, “We are supporting this proactive step out of an abundance of caution. Safety is a core value at Boeing for as long as we have been building airplanes; and it always will be. There is no greater priority for our company and our industry. We are doing everything we can to understand the cause of the accidents in partnership with the investigators, deploy safety enhancements and help ensure this does not happen again.”
