Just over two weeks after thedeadly Boeing 737 MAX 8 plane crash, and 13 days after PresidentTrump announced the model would be groundedindefinitely, another of the controversial jets has had to make an emergency landing.
A Southwest flight operating a Boeing 737 MAX 8 plane experienced an issue shortly after taking off from Orlando International Airport on Tuesday afternoon and had to return to make an emergency landing, a spokesperson for Southwest confirms to PEOPLE.Fox 35 Orlandofirst reported the incident.
According to Southwest, the ferry flight “returned to Orlando International Airport just before 3pm EDT after Pilots reported a performance issue with one of the engines shortly after takeoff. The Crew followed protocol and safely landed back at the airport.”
The plane is now on its way to an Orlando maintenance facility for review.
Asked whether the issue could be related to the software malfunction that might have caused the previous MAX 8 crashes, the spokesperson said, “No connection at all,” noting Tuesday’s problem was “all engine related.”
Six 737 MAX 8 and 9 planes were at the Orlando airport at the time the grounding order was given, Fox 35 reports.
Both the Ethiopian Airlines crash earlier this month and aLion Air crash in Indonesiain October 2018, which resulted in the deaths of 189 passengers and crew, are believed to be related to a software malfunction affecting the 737 MAX 8.
Both those incidents occurred under similar circumstances and the FAA has saidnew evidence suggests they may be linked.
Countries around the worldgrounded Boeing 737 MAX series jetsin the days after the second crash. However, North American carriers including Southwest and American, which both fly the MAX 8, and United which flies the MAX 9,continued to use the planeand stood behind the safety of their fleet.
The U.S. followed suit on March 13, when in a press conference President Trump stated that he would issue an emergency order to ground the 74 MAX 8 and MAX 9 planes in operation in the country based on “new information and physical evidence that we’ve received from the [Ethiopia crash site] and from other locations and through a couple of other complaints.”
Southwest has 34 737 MAX planes in its fleet, a spokesperson confirmed to PEOPLE, and had grounded them in accordance with the ban.
source: people.com
