There have been two deadly plane crashes in recent weeks. As a result, Trump has grounded the specific planes involved until authorities can identify the problem or problems.
USA Today reports:
President Donald Trump issues order to ground Boeing 737 Max 8 after crashes
President Donald Trump announced Wednesday that his administration had grounded the Boeing 737 Max 8 planes involved in two catastrophic crashes, hours after the United States became the last country to do so.
“Those planes are grounded effective immediately,” Trump told reporters at the White House. “The safety of the American people, of all people, is our paramount concern.”
The United States was the last holdout on grounding the aircraft after Canada on Wednesday joined a growing list of nations that included China, Britain, France and Germany to make the call following an Ethiopian Airlines crash on Sunday that killed 157 people.
The Federal Aviation Administration previously stood by the safety of the plane, saying it hadn’t found any issues to merit a grounding order. In a statement issued after Trump’s remarks, the FAA said the administration was reversing course based on “the data gathering process and new evidence collected at the site.”
Trump, who said he felt the move was important “psychologically,” said the decision applied to the 737 Max 8 and Max 9 aircraft. Trump also said he was confident Boeing would get to the bottom of the problem.
In a statement, Boeing said it “continues to have full confidence in the safety” of its airplanes, but agreed with the government’s decision “out of an abundance of caution and in order to reassure the flying public of the aircraft’s safety.”
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Here’s the video of Trump discussing the order:
The Ethiopian Airlines crash was awful. All 157 people on board were killed.
CBS News reports:
Ethiopian Airlines flight crashes minutes after takeoff, killing all 157 onboard
An Ethiopian Airlines flight crashed shortly after takeoff from Ethiopia’s capital Sunday morning, killing all 157 on board, authorities said, as grieving families rushed to airports in Addis Ababa and the destination, Nairobi. More than 30 nationalities are among the dead, including at least eight Americans.
It was not immediately clear what caused the crash of the Boeing 737-8 MAX plane, which was new and had been delivered to the airline in November. The pilot of Flight ET 302 sent out a distress call and was given clearance to return, the airline’s CEO told reporters.
The crash shattered more than two years of relative calm in African skies, where travel had long been chaotic. It also was a serious blow to state-owned Ethiopian Airlines, which has expanded to become the continent’s largest and best-managed carrier and turned Addis Ababa into the gateway to Africa.
“Ethiopian Airlines is one of the safest airlines in the world. At this stage we cannot rule out anything,” CEO Tewolde Gebremariam told reporters. He visited the crash site, standing in the gaping crater flecked with debris.
How terrible for the families of the victims.
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