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Chinese Airline Demands Compensation From Boeing for Grounding 737 MAX - Reports

MOSCOW (Sputnik) – Chinese air carrier Xiamen Airlines has followed the country’s other airlines by claiming compensation from Boeing over grounding its 737 MAX jets in the wake of two deadly crashes involving planes of this series in Ethiopia and Indonesia, local media reported.
Sputnik

Compensation was claimed earlier this week by Air China, China Eastern Airlines and China Southern Airlines. The Foreign Ministry spokesman, Lu Kang, said that the authorities understood the decisions made by the companies.

The CCTV broadcaster reported that Xiamen Airlines grounded 10 Boeing 737 MAX on 11 March.

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The outlet added that due to the increased amount of salt in the air and the approaching typhoon season, the long-term grounding of aeroplanes could affect security. For that reason, the airline plans to move the planes to a cooler and drier location.

In March, a Boeing 737 plane crashed in Indonesia, while another accident occurred in Ethiopia last October.

Boeing Says Software Updates Completed on 737 MAX Jets After 2 Deadly Crashes
In the wake of the latest crash, aviation authorities and air carriers around the world have either grounded all 737 MAX series aircraft and or closed their airspace to them.

The US Federal Aviation Administration said on Wednesday there is no specific timetable to approve the resumption of flights for 737 MAX planes, Reuters reported.

The FAA is meeting with more than 30 international air regulators including China, the European Union, Brazil and Canada on Thursday to discuss a software fix and new pilot training that Boeing has been developing to ensure the jets are safe to fly.

READ MORE: Boeing Received No New Orders for Aircraft in April — Reports

Investigations into the incidents are underway, but experts believe that the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS) system could be behind the crashes. The MCAS feature automatically pushes down the jet’s nose in case a critical angle of attack is detected.

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When the information coming from sensors is wrong, such actions by the security system can pose a danger when MCAS commands override a pilot manually attempting to pull up the nose of the jet.

According to investigators, pilots of the crashed Ethiopian Airlines jet needed more than four minutes to realize that incorrect data from sensors urged the MCAS to push the nose down when the situation didn't require such interference.

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