Global regulators, including U.S. lawmakers, are already hot on the heels of Boeing since the two 737 Max crashes gripped the global aviation sector, but a new diversion incident involving a Deutsche Lufthansa 747-8 jet increased the tension further.
A Boeing 747-8 model under Lufthansa was forced to return to its place of origin due to landing gear issues, the Aviation Herald reported on Saturday.
The outlet noted that the jet in question had to return to Frankfurt around 85 minutes after departure.
Flight LH422 was among the daily scheduled flights operated by Lufthansa and was supposed to touch down in Boston from Frankfurt when the crew reportedly announced a landing gear problem.
People on the ground reportedly saw the Boeing 747-8 jet's landing gear extended.
Furthermore, the aircraft was spotted dumping fuel. The Lufthansa incident was the second in two days with the same jet.
The first incident took place a day earlier, with the same supposed flight path from Frankfurt to Boston.
A diversion was reported along the way, wherein the Boeing 747-8 aircraft had to land at the Keflavik airport in Iceland but it is unclear what exactly caused the said diversion.
Before the two diversions involving the same jet, Boeing already had too much on its plate following two tragic crashes that resulted in 346 deaths.
The alleged landing gear issues with the 747-8 jet under Lufthansa are expected to get regulators heated up further.
Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg is scheduled to face the U.S. Congress on Tuesday as aviation experts wait for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to announce the recertification of the grounded 737 Max jets.
Senator Roger Wicker, chair of the Senate Commerce Committee that has been reviewing the 737 Max crashes, told Reuters on Friday that the grounded fleets will not be allowed to fly until "99.9% of the American public", as well as investigative bodies and regulators, are convinced of the jets' safety.
Wicker noted that he is looking to raise the issue regarding communication between Boeing and the FAA during the development and certification of the troubled jets. He said the American aircraft giant has to answer how the masses and regulators will once again reach an acceptable level of comfort with the 737 Max.
Meanwhile, there is an ongoing debate on where the FAA stands amid all the chaos. An op-ed by a professor of the Public Understanding of Technology at the Open University, John Naughton on The Guardian suggested that the FAA may have some answering to do with regard to the Boeing control system issues believed to have played a key role in the crashes.
Recent reports revealed that the FAA was unaware of the potential flaws in the Boeing 737 Max jets' MCAS system that's being blamed for the two crashes in October and March. It is unclear whether the Senate will officially investigate the recertification process.
