Boeing will cross closed border for 737 Max flight tests

Boeing Co. and Transport Canada have worked out a novel way to skirt closed borders so that the Canadian aviation regulator can run its own tests of revamped flight-control software on the grounded 737 Max.

Transport Canada is one of many aviation regulators around the world that need to approve the return of the aircraft after it had been pulled from commercial service more than a year ago after a flight control issue on the new jet caused two fatal crashes.

In a break with custom prompted by the coronavirus pandemic, Boeing will fly a Max over the border to Metro Vancouver early next week rather than basing all the test activity in Seattle. Flight testing will take place in U.S. airspace, with the aircraft then returning to B.C. to drop off Transport Canada experts, the regulator said in an email Friday.

The regulator would not say which airport in the Lower Mainland will be used by the Boeing aircraft, citing security concerns.

“Mitigation measures due to COVID-19 have been established for the validation activities, including flight tests to ensure the health and safety of Transport Canada employees,” said Sau Sau Liu, a communications adviser to Transport Canada.

The Canadian agency’s several days of test flights will be the first by an international regulator after the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration put the Max through days of rigorous testing earlier this summer.

Travel restrictions have complicated Boeing ’s efforts to work with regulators at home and abroad to recertify the Max. The aircraft was grounded worldwide in March 2019 after two crashes killed 346 people.

Transport Canada employees will also be flown to Seattle to conduct separate evaluations on a Boeing-run simulator and then back to Vancouver.

Boeing completed its first round of certification test flights, which were conducted with U.S. regulators, on July 1. Because the plane is built in the U.S., the FAA is taking the lead on re-certifying the plane.

After reviewing the results of the flights and Boeing’s detailed plan for revising systems on the plane, the FAA on Aug. 3 said it has tentatively approved the fixes. The public was given 45 days to comment on the proposed changes, meaning the agency could sign off on the return sometime in the fall.