The US aviation regulator said a joint government technical review of the grounded Boeing 737 Max will begin on April 29 with the participation of nine civil aviation authorities from the UAE to China.
The Joint Authorities Technical Review will conduct a "comprehensive review" of the certification of the aircraft's automated flight control system, the US Federal Aviation Administration said in a statement on its website. The international team is expected to complete its work within 90 days.
"The team will evaluate aspects of the 737 MAX automated flight control system, including its design and pilots' interaction with the system, to determine its compliance with all applicable regulations and to identify future enhancements that might be needed," the FAA said.
The panel is chaired by former National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) Chairman Chris Hart and will include experts from the FAA and NASA. The FAA had said on April 2 that it was forming the international panel to review the safety of the jet after it was involved in two fatal crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia that together killed about 350 people.
The panel will include civil aviation representatives from the UAE, European Union, Australia, Canada, Brazil, Japan, China, Indonesia and Singapore, according to the FAA.
The Chicago-based planemaker is making "steady progress" on the certification for the 737 MAX software update, Dennis Muilenburg said on April 17 in a video message on his Twitter account.
Boeing has undertaken 120 test flights of the 737 Max. That includes 203 flight hours in testing the redesign of the aircraft's safety system, known as MCAS, Mr Muilenburg said in the video.
Boeing has finished the final engineering test flight and the next flight will be for software certification, he said.
Of about 50 Max customers, 85 per cent of Max operators have experienced the new software in simulator sessions, according to Mr Muilenburg.
The UAE will conduct additional checks to ensure the safety of the Boeing 737 Max aircraft, Sultan Al Mansouri, chairman of the UAE's General Civil Aviation Authority and economy minister, told reporters on April 15.
The GCAA banned operations of the troubled jet in March amid a wave of global groundings of the industry work-horse following deadly crash of an Ethiopian Air jetliner in March and Indonesia's Lion Air plane in October.
In both disasters, a malfunctioning safety system on the plane was repeatedly driving down the nose.
Boeing has been working on a software upgrade that would prevent the MCAS from repeatedly lowering the nose of the aircraft.
The world's biggest jet-maker has orders for about 4,600 of the fuel-efficient, single-aisle MAX models.
KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
Zakat definitions
Zakat: an Arabic word meaning ‘to cleanse’ or ‘purification’.
Nisab: the minimum amount that a Muslim must have before being obliged to pay zakat. Traditionally, the nisab threshold was 87.48 grams of gold, or 612.36 grams of silver. The monetary value of the nisab therefore varies by current prices and currencies.
Zakat Al Mal: the ‘cleansing’ of wealth, as one of the five pillars of Islam; a spiritual duty for all Muslims meeting the ‘nisab’ wealth criteria in a lunar year, to pay 2.5 per cent of their wealth in alms to the deserving and needy.
Zakat Al Fitr: a donation to charity given during Ramadan, before Eid Al Fitr, in the form of food. Every adult Muslim who possesses food in excess of the needs of themselves and their family must pay two qadahs (an old measure just over 2 kilograms) of flour, wheat, barley or rice from each person in a household, as a minimum.
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
The years Ramadan fell in May
Day 3 stumps
New Zealand 153 & 249
Pakistan 227 & 37-0 (target 176)
Pakistan require another 139 runs with 10 wickets remaining
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
BORDERLANDS
Starring: Cate Blanchett, Kevin Hart, Jamie Lee Curtis
Director: Eli Roth
Rating: 0/5
David Haye record
Total fights: 32
Wins: 28
Wins by KO: 26
Losses: 4
MOUNTAINHEAD REVIEW
Starring: Ramy Youssef, Steve Carell, Jason Schwartzman
Director: Jesse Armstrong
Rating: 3.5/5
Museum of the Future in numbers
- 78 metres is the height of the museum
- 30,000 square metres is its total area
- 17,000 square metres is the length of the stainless steel facade
- 14 kilometres is the length of LED lights used on the facade
- 1,024 individual pieces make up the exterior
- 7 floors in all, with one for administrative offices
- 2,400 diagonally intersecting steel members frame the torus shape
- 100 species of trees and plants dot the gardens
- Dh145 is the price of a ticket
WOMAN AND CHILD
Director: Saeed Roustaee
Starring: Parinaz Izadyar, Payman Maadi
Rating: 4/5
The burning issue
The internal combustion engine is facing a watershed moment – major manufacturer Volvo is to stop producing petroleum-powered vehicles by 2021 and countries in Europe, including the UK, have vowed to ban their sale before 2040. The National takes a look at the story of one of the most successful technologies of the last 100 years and how it has impacted life in the UAE.
Read part four: an affection for classic cars lives on
Read part three: the age of the electric vehicle begins
Read part one: how cars came to the UAE
The five pillars of Islam
1. Fasting
2. Prayer
3. Hajj
4. Shahada
5. Zakat
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The Byblos iftar in numbers
29 or 30 days – the number of iftar services held during the holy month
50 staff members required to prepare an iftar
200 to 350 the number of people served iftar nightly
160 litres of the traditional Ramadan drink, jalab, is served in total
500 litres of soup is served during the holy month
200 kilograms of meat is used for various dishes
350 kilograms of onion is used in dishes
5 minutes – the average time that staff have to eat
Zayed Sustainability Prize
Analysis
Members of Syria's Alawite minority community face threat in their heartland after one of the deadliest days in country’s recent history. Read more
More from Neighbourhood Watch:
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Read more about the coronavirus
About Karol Nawrocki
• Supports military aid for Ukraine, unlike other eurosceptic leaders, but he will oppose its membership in western alliances.
• A nationalist, his campaign slogan was Poland First. "Let's help others, but let's take care of our own citizens first," he said on social media in April.
• Cultivates tough-guy image, posting videos of himself at shooting ranges and in boxing rings.
• Met Donald Trump at the White House and received his backing.
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Zayed Sustainability Prize
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