Boeing 737 Grounded In Staff Parking Lot Due To Shortage Of Space

After the discovery of a software flaw which related to a non-working security alert, the 737 Max planes of Boeing have been grounded. According to investigators, this system malfunction was the cause leading to fatal crashes of Ethiopian Airlines in March and Lion Air in October, killing a total of 350 people.

Now, these grounded planes’ images were floating online. These waiting-to-be-fixed planes have taken all the places at the Washington-based Boeing’s Renton Centre. So that’s why Boeing has resorted to using the car parking space of the staff to park these planes.

A photo has been shared on Twitter by Aviation Photo with the caption which read “historical moment in aviation history.” In the photo, multiple planes can be seen parked in a car parking space due to the Renton factory’s shortage of space.

People have also gone to Instagram to post aerial images of these planes. Before these planes can go on a test and be confirmed that they are safe for flight, they still need to wait in the crowded parking lot.

Bloomberg reports that at the moment, there are about 500 Boeing 737 Max planes that have been grounded. Among them, 100 are parked at the Renton factory. While these planes stay on the ground, the monthly maintenance cost for each plane is $2,000. The maintenance cost is not the only thing that Boeing has to worry about as the company also has to deal with an estimated $1.4 billion bill for lost operating profit and canceled flights if the 737 Max continues to stay on the ground by September.

The non-working security feature of the Boeing 737 Max is called AoA alert or angle of attack. With this feature, pilots are warned whenever the sensors which measure the nose of the plane’s up-and-down pitch regarding oncoming air might be incorrect.

A Boing spokesman stated that the company planned on fixing the cockpit warning once it began developing the Max’s newer, larger model in 2020.

The alert, however, is said to be not important for safety by both FAA’s head and Boeing. It remains unclear whether both crashes couldn’t have happened if the cockpit alert hadn’t been faulty.