3 ms·

How long does it take to ground an aircraft assuming the decision to ground is made?

sokoloff 8y ago
For an airliner, decision could be implemented in under 24 hours if a country’s civil aviation authority (FAA for the US) decides it’s an emergency. More likely, they’d permit ferrying to maintenance bases, and very unlikely to emergency ground the aircraft absent a finding of same root cause, even if preliminary. I’d be surprised if they took a fleet wide emergency grounding action.
- jlmorton 8y ago
  I also doubt that the aviation authorities would ground the 737-8 without more evidence of a design flaw, but it's worth noting the FAA and other national authorities did ground the 787 for three months between January and April 2013 as a result of battery fires.
- xucheng 8y ago
  Is there any recent history for FAA to issue an emergency grounding for one type of aircraft? The only example I know is DC-10.
  - cm2187 8y ago
    Perhaps Concorde, although I don't know if the emergency grounding was mandated by the authority or voluntary.
    - CaptainZapp 8y ago
      As I recall one of the problems with the Concorde was that the existing fleet was getting quite old and spare parts were hard, if not impossible to come by. The incident in Paris may have sped up the process of decomissioning the plane, but it would have happened anyway eventually. All was not lost. A lot of the more visionary aspects of that plane, were implented into later Airbus models (i.e. the glass cockpit derives directly from the Concorde). An outstanding (if slightly outdated) discussion about all things Concorde can be found here: https://www.pprune.org/tech-log/423988-concorde-question.html https://www.pprune.org/tech-log/423988-concorde-question.htm...
fphhotchips 8y ago
Airlines can ground a new aircraft pretty bloody fast. Qantas grounded its A380 fleet within a couple hours of QF32 landing in 2010. Havoc, definitely, but every major airline will take havoc over an accident any day of the week.
Alex3917 8y ago
On 9/11 they announced that all flights were grounded in less than an hour, and from that point it was just however long it took for each plane to find the nearest safe place to land.

For an airliner, decision could be implemented in under 24 hours if a country’s civil aviation authority (FAA for the US) decides it’s an emergency. More likely, they’d permit ferrying to maintenance bases, and very unlikely to emergency ground the aircraft absent a finding of same root cause, even if preliminary. I’d be surprised if they took a fleet wide emergency grounding action.

jlmorton 8y ago
I also doubt that the aviation authorities would ground the 737-8 without more evidence of a design flaw, but it's worth noting the FAA and other national authorities did ground the 787 for three months between January and April 2013 as a result of battery fires.
xucheng 8y ago
Is there any recent history for FAA to issue an emergency grounding for one type of aircraft? The only example I know is DC-10.
- cm2187 8y ago
  Perhaps Concorde, although I don't know if the emergency grounding was mandated by the authority or voluntary.
  - CaptainZapp 8y ago
    As I recall one of the problems with the Concorde was that the existing fleet was getting quite old and spare parts were hard, if not impossible to come by. The incident in Paris may have sped up the process of decomissioning the plane, but it would have happened anyway eventually. All was not lost. A lot of the more visionary aspects of that plane, were implented into later Airbus models (i.e. the glass cockpit derives directly from the Concorde). An outstanding (if slightly outdated) discussion about all things Concorde can be found here: https://www.pprune.org/tech-log/423988-concorde-question.html https://www.pprune.org/tech-log/423988-concorde-question.htm...

fphhotchips 8y ago

Airlines can ground a new aircraft pretty bloody fast. Qantas grounded its A380 fleet within a couple hours of QF32 landing in 2010. Havoc, definitely, but every major airline will take havoc over an accident any day of the week.

Alex3917 8y ago

On 9/11 they announced that all flights were grounded in less than an hour, and from that point it was just however long it took for each plane to find the nearest safe place to land.