The accidents plunged Boeing into the worst crisis in its history.
Seattle, Washington:
Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) chief Steve Dickson on Wednesday flew a nearly two-hour assessment flight in a Boeing 737 MAX, an important step in getting the jet cleared to resume operation. theft after two fatal accidents.
Dickson, a former military and commercial pilot, and other FAA and Boeing pilots touched down shortly before 11 a.m. local time (6 p.m. GMT) at King County International Airport – also known as Boeing Field – in the Seattle area.
“I like what I saw on the flight,” Dickson said at a press conference afterwards, but said he was not ready to give the plane a toll of clean health, with FAA reviews still ongoing.
“We’re not yet at the point where we’ve finished the process,” Dickson said.
The flight was a key part of the US aircraft manufacturer’s long-delayed quest to persuade the FAA to lift a March 2019 grounding order triggered by 737 MAX crashes in Ethiopia and Indonesia that killed 346 people in five month.
The crashes plunged Boeing into the worst crisis in its history, strained relations with the FAA, called into question the US regulator’s position as a standard-bearer of global aviation safety, and prompted bipartisan calls in Congress for review the way the FAA certifies new aircraft.
Critics, including the father of a crash victim, said the theft amounted to a publicity stunt and demanded that the FAA release test data and other information so that outside experts can do their own assessments.
“Without this secret data, independent experts and the public cannot confirm whether the plane is safe,” said Michael Stumo, whose daughter was among 157 people killed in the second 737 MAX crash in Ethiopia.
Dickson said he completed the proposed new pilot training requirements, a simulator session, and then performed flight tests on the design and operation of the 737 MAX intended to avoid disasters similar to the two crashes.
In both crashes, a faulty control system known as MCAS, triggered by erroneous data from a single airflow sensor, repeatedly and forcefully pushed the nose of the jet as the pilots struggled to intervene.
If Dickson’s flight and the broader reviews go well, the FAA is considered likely to lift its grounding order in the United States in November, sources said on Wednesday, putting the MAX on track for the resumption of commercial service potentially before the end of the year.
This timeline dovetails with comments last week from Dickson’s European counterpart, Patrick Ky. He said the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) expects to lift its technical ban “shortly long “after the FAA, but the national operational clearances necessary for individual airlines to resume flight could take longer.
Separately, the U.S. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee unanimously approved bipartisan legislation on Wednesday to reform the FAA aircraft certification process following 737 MAX crashes.
(Except for the title, this story was not edited by GalacticGaming staff and is posted from a syndicated feed.)
