AA Sights Maintenance Problem For Its 737 MAX 8 Which Aborted Takeoff In St Vincent
(Ernesto Cooke) – On Sunday, June 6, it was revealed that American Airlines was using the troubled Boeing 737 Max 8 when the crew aborted takeoff from Argyle International Airport, in St Vincent, on June 5.
In response to emails sent to American Airlines, a company spokesperson responded on Monday, June 7, saying that the crew aborted the takeoff due to maintenance.
“On June 5, American Airlines flight 1427 with service from St. Vincent (SVD) to Miami (MIA) aborted shortly before takeoff due to maintenance”.
The flight destined for Miami was set to depart from (AIA) around 3:55 p.m last Saturday; however, a source told News784 that pilots were forced to apply the brake close to the takeoff point.
The AA spokesperson told News784 the aircraft taxied back to the gate on its own power.
“The aircraft taxied to the gate under its own power, and our maintenance team is inspecting.”
The spokesperson did not go into further details except to say;
“American Airlines never want to disrupt our customers’ travel plans, and we apologize for the trouble this caused.”
In May, little more than six months after Boeing’s 737 Max was cleared to fly again by US regulators; the aircraft found itself under intense scrutiny once again.
In January 2021, it was stated by the Justice Department that Boeing would pay more than $2.5 billion to settle a criminal charge related to the two 737 Max plane crashes in 2018 and 2019 that killed 346 people.
On Sunday, aviation consultant James Lynch told News784 that there could have been many reasons why the AA crew using the Boeing MAX 737 had to abort the takeoff.
“Based on footage obtained, I saw a lot of dust, back at the start of the takeoff roll. So one cause may be volcanic dust retarding the acceleration. It could have also been the same dust from when it landed. You could have seen it was not developing full thrust on the engines”.
“If the engines ingested volcanic ash on arrival (look at the ash generated during the reverse thrust phase), it would have stuck to the turbine blades and the inside of the engine – including the burner “cans” at the back where the fuel burns.”
Lynch said even though he is giving his perspective based on footage obtained, he thinks the crew did the right thing, and the decision would have been generated and acted on by the speed numbers (V1 and V2) being called out during the takeoff run.
Up to press time on Monday, airport officials on the island did not issue any statement on the incident.
There have not been any injury reports to anyone onboard the aborted American Airlines 737 Max 8 flight on Saturday.
