Before Crash American Officials Had Twice Considered Grounding Boeing's 737 Max -- But Didn't

An anonymous reader quotes Business Insider:
Southwest Airlines and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) officials who monitor the carrier were unaware that a standard safety feature, designed to warn pilots about malfunctioning sensors, on Boeing 737 Max jets was turned off when Southwest began flying the model in 2017, reported Andy Pastzor of the Wall Street Journal... Like other airlines flying the Max, Southwest didn't learn about the change until the aftermath of the Lion Air crash [in October of 2018], Pastzor reported.

According to WSJ's investigation, which reviewed documents, the carrier then asked Boeing to reactivate the alerts on its Max fleet, causing FAA inspectors to contemplate grounding the Max fleet until it was determined whether or not pilots needed additional training -- but the idea was quickly dropped. Once the feature was reactivated, some FAA officials again considered grounding Southwest's 737 Max fleet to determine whether pilots needed new training -- and again, the discussions, which happened via email, were dismissed after a few days, Pastkor reported.

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