Last Sunday, a Boeing 737-8 MAX of the Ethiopian Airlines company crashed shortly after takeoff in similar circumstances to another incident in October 2018.
Yesterday afternoon, the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) issued an "emergency Airworthiness Directive" in order to immobilize the Boeing 737-8 until the causes of the accident are established and the corrective measures are applied : "For The reasons described above, pending the availability of more information, EASA has decided to suspend all flight operations of the two affected models.".
In the absence of information, the European Agency uses the precautionary principle and decides to immobilize the aircraft.
In return, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) approach is different. In a note published on 11 March, she said: "External reports are drawing similarities between this accident and the Lion Air Flight 610 accident on October 29, 2018. However, this investigation has just begun and to date we have not been provided data to draw any conclusions or take any actions. "
Generally, the main aviation security agencies (EASA in Europe, Transport Canada in Canada and the FAA in the United States) agree on the measures to be taken to ensure the safety of air Transport.
In this case, faced with the same lack of information, the two agencies are taking a different position. The EASA says: We do not have enough information, so the fleet is immobilized as a precautionary principle. The FAA, on the other hand, says: We do not have enough information, so we do not immobilize the fleet.
This is not an easy decision, but due to the precautionary principle and by the fact that air transport is based on passenger confidence, I think the EASA has made the right decision.