South Korea issued emergency airworthiness directive for 737 passenger aircraft, requiring inspections for problems

Report by : Gan Yung Chyan

                  / KUCINTA SETIA

South Korea’s Ministry of Transportation issued an emergency order on 25 July 2020, requiring local airlines to check whether there are problems with their Boeing 737 aircraft. On 24 July, the Federal Aviation Administration issued an emergency order requiring emergency inspections of approximately 2,000 Boeing 737NG and 737 classic airliners registered in the United States. The reason is that the air check valves of related airliners may be corroded and may cause engines to malfunction.

According to reports, this order is another shock to Boeing. The Boeing 737 MAX passenger planes of Lion Air and Ethiopian Airlines crashed in October 2018 and March 2019 respectively. This series of passenger planes were subsequently grounded globally. The FAA admitted that with regard to the 737 MAX airliner, the agency “made a mistake” over its supervision on Boeing.