re: 737max crashes in Ethiopia. Killing 157

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So if pilots have been reporting issues with a downward pitch when engaging autopilot, why have they not taken action?

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Dollar, dollar bills yo....... and we don’t have a “special interest” problem in our country! Sarcasm [on] off

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I find it hard to believe that pilots wouldn't flat out refuse to fly these things if they thought it was a major concern

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RLA prohibits airline pilots from “refusing to work”. They could have called in sick or found other reasons not to fly a MAX, but they can’t just not fly it since it was a FAA approved aircraft.

Plenty could have been calling in sick to avoid flying them and the public hasn't heard about it, pilots aren't going to admit to it for obvious reasons.

So once these planes are on the ground, what next? I'm guessing some of these airports don't have much in the way of overnight support. They just going to hang out on the tarmac?

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So once these planes are on the ground, what next? I'm guessing some of these airports don't have much in the way of overnight support. They just going to hang out on the tarmac?

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Typically, in these situations, the aircraft are allowed to be ferried without passengers to a maintenance destination.

Canada has already said that's what they're doing.

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Airborne Aircraft are allowed to continue to destination airport.

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Whew!

How kind of them. I feel badly for the people who were in the air when some of the other countries shut down their airspaces to the 737 MAX--they had to divert. I guess in this case, since there's nowhere else to go, US had no choice but to give them permission to land at their final destinations

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Kind of a toothless union if they can't refuse to fly planes with major issues

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In a lot ways yes, but I am sure that the unions representing pilots of 737 MAX airlines have been putting pressure on the FAA to take action. Airline unions are probably the #1 reason the US has the safest and most reputable aviation record in the world.

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So wait, is the 737-800 grounded too? Or am I misinterpreting tht message?

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Just the 737 Max8 and 737 Max9.

The 737-800 and other non Max 737 variants aren't affected.

Edit: there are 73 total MAX variants currently in US fleets.