The Federal Aviation Administration said it suspended operations of an airline whose cargo plane crashed into the ocean earlier this month, following an investigation into the airline’s parent company.
Two pilots flying a Boeing Co. 737-200 cargo plane for Transair Flight 810 were forced to land in the ocean near Honolulu around 1:30 a.m. local time on July 2, a crash that sent both of them to the hospital.
The FAA on Friday said it had been probing maintenance and safety practices of Transair’s parent company, Rhoades Aviation, since last fall. On Thursday night, the agency said it notified Rhoades that the agency would strip the company of its ability to conduct maintenance inspections, effectively preventing Rhoades from legally operating. That suspension took effect at midnight local time.
The agency said it notified Rhoades earlier this week of its planned suspension, due to deficiencies the agency discovered during its investigation. The company chose not to ask the FAA to reconsider, according to the agency.
“The FAA has ongoing safety oversight programs to identify issues early and get ahead of them. This is what led the FAA to begin investigating the operator before the crash,” it said in a statement.
