The FAA had already investigated the cargo airline before the accident involving a Boeing 737 off Hawaii. Now she is taking action and banning Transair.
The pictures of the wreck show how dramatic the ditching of the Transair Boeing 737 must have been. At a depth of more than 100 meters lie the remains of the machine that landed in the sea off Hawaii earlier this month. Both pilots survived. The plane broke up.
The US aviation authority has now announced that the accident will have consequences for the operator. The Federal Aviation Administration FAA has issued a flight ban to Transair, reports the Wall Street Journal, among others. It is said that the maintenance and safety culture of the parent company Rhoades Aviation has been examined since last autumn.
Maintenance issues?
Apparently there were now problems with the maintenance. Because on Thursday (July 15), the aviation authority Rhoades Aviation informed that it was withdrawing its license for maintenance operations – and with it the possibility of maintaining flight operations. “The FAA has ongoing safety monitoring programs to identify problems early and preempt them. This prompted the agency to begin investigating the operator prior to the crash.”
Rhoades Aviation was informed regarding the impending step earlier this week. The company did not object. Transair had flown between the Hawaiian Islands as a cargo airline for more than 40 years.
Both crew members survived
Transair’s Boeing 737, first delivered in 1975, was en route from Honolulu to Maui on July 2 when the crew reported engine problems. She planned to return to Honolulu, but there wasn’t time. The pilots ditched the plane in the sea. Both crew members were rescued. They are also to be interviewed during the investigation into the cause of the accident.
The investigating agency National Transportation Safety Board NTSB said that the wreck was so deep on the seabed that divers might not be used to recover the flight recorders. Now we are looking for solutions.
