Europe, Canada to do own reviews of Boeing flight system
The decision by Europe and Canada to break with U.S. air-safety regulators is likely to delay the resumption of flights by the Boeing 737 Max after two deadly crashes.
The Europeans and Canadians vow to conduct their own reviews of Boeing’s changes to a key flight-control system, not to simply take the Federal Aviation Administration’s word that the alterations are safe. Those reviews could scramble an ambitious schedule set by Boeing and undercut the FAA’s reputation around the world.
Boeing hopes by March 25 to finish its update to software that can automatically point the nose of the plane sharply downward in some circumstances to avoid an aerodynamic stall. That’s according to two people briefed on FAA presentations to congressional committees. AP
U.S. rapid-deployment troops arrive in Berlin for maneuvers
Hundreds of U.S. soldiers have begun arriving in Germany in the first test of a rapid deployment strategy meant to bolster NATO’s presence in eastern Europe in the event of Russian aggression or other emergencies.
U.S. Army Europe says 350 soldiers from the 1st Armored Division arrived in Berlin March 19 as part of a group of 1,500 arriving this week.
They’re heading to Poland, where they will link up with tanks and other heavy equipment being brought in from a pre-positioned site in the Netherlands.
They will then conduct maneuvers with Polish forces.
The idea of the “dynamic force employment” strategy is to “rapidly surge combat-ready forces” into Europe when needed.
The U.S., Canada, Germany and Britain already lead battalion-size units in Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia. AP