Usually, airplanes are grounded for
mechanical and safety reasons.
This time, United Airlines has temporarily
grounded its entire fleet of A321neo airplanes because of an old signage
issue.
A U.S. law from 1990 requires
the ‘No Smoking’ sign on planes to be operated by the flight crew, but on this
particular airplane model, the sign is automatic.
The airplane is relatively
new, but you can imagine the trepidation of some who are probably wondering how
old the plane is when that sign comes on. Smoking has been banned on airlines
in the United States for the better part of the last 30 years.
In fact, the software keeps
the sign lit continuously.
United had requested an
exemption from operating the “No Smoking” sign, but that was four
years ago and did not cover the A321neo. Of course, planes have been grounded
for much more severe issues, but a law is a law.
There are only five such
airplanes in United's fleet, and United has requested that they be added to
their existing exemption.
"As the FAA noted, this
is not a safety of flight issue," a United spokesperson said. "Our
five A321neos were briefly out of service on Monday while we worked through
this issue with the FAA, resulting in a handful of delays but no cancellations
as we swapped that flying to other aircraft types in an effort to minimize
disruption for our customers."
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