A step closer to the runway
FAA gives Max preliminary OK on design fix
WASHINGTON — The Federal Aviation Administration said Monday that it has given preliminary approval to design changes for Boeing’s 737 Max that should prevent a repeat of two crashes that killed more than 300 people in five months.
In a new report and a proposed directive to airlines, the agency said it would require the installation of a software patch that introduces several new safeguards and require that key sensors on the planes be checked before they are flown.
The public will have 45 days to comment on the proposed directive. The FAA must then analyze the feedback and respond to it, so it’s unlikely the Max will be ungrounded before October. But the steps taken by the agency Monday are the clearest sign yet that the jets will soon be ready return to the skies.
“Through a thorough, transparent, and inclusive process, the FAA has preliminarily determined that Boeing’s proposed changes to the 737 MAX design, flightcrew procedures and maintenance procedures effectively mitigate the airplanerelated safety issues,” the agency said in a report on its work so far.
In a statement, Boeing said it was continuing to work with the FAA on getting the Max safely back in the air.
“While we still have a lot of work in front of us, this is an important milestone in the certification process,” the company said.
The first Max crash occurred
Oct. 29, 2018, when a Lion Air flight crashed into the Java Sea shortly after takeoff, killing all 189 people onboard. Five months later, on March 10, 2019, a Ethiopian Airlines 737 Max bound for Nairobi crashed shortly after takeoff, killing all 157 people onboard.
Investigators say an automated feature on the Max known as the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System, or MCAS, contributed to both crashes. The system repeatedly engaged based on faulty data from a single sensor that investigators say had probably been poorly repaired. The noses of both planes were pushed down repeatedly as the pilots struggled to regain control.
After the second crash, avia
tion safety authorities around the world declared the jet unsafe and ordered it grounded. The FAA said Monday that since then a team of 40 agency employees have been working full-time to ensure the Max is safe to fly again.
When the Max does return to the air, a jet that was seen as crucial to Boeing’s financial success and airlines’ operations will come back to an aviation industry ravaged by the coronavirus pandemic.
Boeing says it lost 373 orders for the Max in the first half of the year. And that doesn’t include plans to cancel an order for almost 100 of the jet by a Norwegian
carrier that was an important early customer for the aircraft.
While the directive is a significant step in the eventual ungrounding of the Max, the FAA said that several other tasks remain. A group of international pilots must assess the training requirements for the jet and a document issued as part of that process will also be submitted for formal public comment.
Once the grounding order is lifted, airlines must ensure they are complying with all the new rules for operating the plane. In addition, the FAA has said it will sign off on all newly manufactured planes before they are allowed to fly, a job that was previously delegated to Boeing.