An Air Canada Boeing Co 737-8 Max en route between Arizona and Montreal with three crew members on board suffered an engine problem that forced the crew to divert the aircraft to Tucson, Arizona, the airline said.
Shortly after takeoff, pilots were given an “engine indication” and “decided to turn off an engine,” an Air Canada spokesman said on Friday.
“The aircraft was then diverted to Tucson, where it landed normally and remains.”
The incident occurred on December 22.
The crew received an indication of low hydraulic pressure from the left engine and declared a Pan-Pan emergency before diverting the flight, reported the Belgian aviation news website Aviation24.be.
“Modern aircraft are designed to operate with an engine and our crews train for such operations,” said the statement from Air Canada.
Boeing and operators are preparing for a closer examination as the 737 Max returns from a 20-month safety ground, but security experts say such failures are common and often go unnoticed.
The United States landed Max in March 2019, after two planes crashed because of defective sensors and a design flaw that repeatedly pushed the nose of the aircraft.
In the first incident, at least 189 people died aboard the Lion Air Flight JT610, a Boeing 737 Max 8 jet, when it crashed shortly after takeoff from the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, in October 2018. In March 2019, another Boeing 737 Max 8 – Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 – fell on the route from Addis Ababa to Nairobi. The accident killed 157 people from 35 different countries, including eight crew members.
The United States lifted the 737 Max flight ban last month, with the Federal Aviation Administration describing details of the software, system and training updates that Boeing and airlines must complete before transporting passengers.
In response to a request from Reuters to comment on the Air Canada flight, a Boeing spokeswoman referred to Air Canada for information about the incident and did not provide any additional comments.