The U.S. aviation regulator's decision to hold off taking action against the Boeing 737 Max 8 models in light of its two crashes in five months has triggered an uproar in the United States, as lawmakers, professionals and the public demand grounding the model.
The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said Monday that it is not taking any actions against the Boeing 737 Max 8 after the deadly crash of Ethiopian Airline flight 302 Sunday, saying in a notice that it had "not been provided data to draw any conclusions or take any actions."
"All data will be ly examined during this investigation, and the FAA will take appropriate action if the data indicates the need to do so," the notice said.
It acknowledged reports drawing similarities between the flight 302 crash and another in October 2018 of the same model operated by Indonesia's Lion Air, adding that Boeing had been making changes to the model's flight control systems under FAA oversight since the Lion Air crash.
The change will "provide reduced reliance on procedures associated with required pilot memory items" and is expected to be completed no later than April 2019, the notice said.
The FAA's decision was slammed by the U.S. public, especially after a growing number of airlines around the world have grounded their Boeing 737 Max 8 jets.
The FAA and the airline industry must act quickly and decisively to protect American travelers, pilots and flight attendants, U.S. Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal said in a tweet, adding that all Boeing 737 Max 8s should be grounded as the two crashes "call into serious question the safety of these aircrafts."
U.S. Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein echoed her colleague's remarks, requesting the FAA in a letter to ground all Boeing 737 Max 8s "until their safe use has been confirmed."
"Several other countries have already taken this important step, including China and Indonesia," the letter noted.
Former FAA Safety Inspector David Soucie told U.S. media that he would "definitely" ground the 737 Max 8s if he were in charge of the FAA.
Airline consumer organization Flyers Rights said the crashes "should compel the FAA to ground all these aircraft until it is clear that its automated control problems have been fixed."
"If you fail to do so now and a third crash occurs, you will be responsible," the organization said in an open letter to the FAA on Monday.
According to the FAA, there are 387 Boeing 737 Max 8 jets in operation at 59 airlines worldwide, 74 of which are registered in the United States.
A number of countries and airlines have taken actions against the Boeing aircraft in the wake of the crashes.
Countries including China, Indonesia, Singapore, Australia, Mongolia and Vietnam have grounded all Boeing 737 Max 8 jets, while Ethiopian Airlines, Comair Airways, Cayman Airways, Aerolineas Argentinas, Aeromexico, Gol Airlines, Royal Air Maroc and Eastar Jet have done the same.
Boeing said on Monday that it is working with the FAA to make a safety upgrade to software that is to be deployed across the 737 Max fleet in the coming weeks.
An aircraft of Ethiopian Airlines crashed on Sunday morning, killing all 157 passengers and crew members on board a 737 Max 8 plane. The plane crash was the second fatal incident involving the same model in five months.
