Boeing 737 Max cleared by FAA to take to the skies again
After nearly two years and a pair of deadly crashes, the United States Federal Aviation Administration has cleared Boeing鈥檚 737 Max for flight.
The nation鈥檚 air safety agency announced the move early Wednesday, saying it was done after a 鈥渃omprehensive and methodical鈥� 20-month review process.
Regulators around the world grounded the Max in March 2019, after the crash of an Ethiopian Airlines jet. That happened less than five months after another Max flown by Indonesia鈥檚 Lion Air plunged into the Java Sea. A total of 346 passengers and crew members on both planes were killed.
Federal Aviation Administration chief Stephen Dickson signed an order Wednesday rescinding the grounding. U.S. airlines will be able to fly the Max once Boeing updates critical software and computers on each plane and pilots receive training in flight simulators.
The FAA says the order was made in cooperation with air safety regulators worldwide. 鈥淭hose regulators have indicated that Boeing鈥檚 design changes, together with the changes to crew procedures and training enhancements, will give them the confidence to validate the aircraft as safe to fly in their respective countries and regions,鈥� the FAA said in a statement.
The move follows exhaustive congressional hearings on the crashes that led to criticism of the FAA for lax oversight and Boeing for rushing to implement a new software system that put profits over safety and ultimately led to the firing of its CEO.
Investigators focused on anti-stall software that Boeing had devised to counter the plane鈥檚 tendency to tilt nose-up because of the size and placement of the engines. That software pushed the nose down repeatedly on both planes that crashed, overcoming the pilots鈥� struggles to regain control. In each case, a single faulty sensor triggered the nose-down pitch.
The FAA required Boeing to change the software so it doesn鈥檛 repeatedly point the nose of the plane down to counteract possible aerodynamic stalling. Boeing says the software also does not override the pilot鈥檚 controls like it did in the past. Boeing also must install new display systems for pilots and change the way wires are routed to a tail stabilizer bar.
鈥淭hese events and the lessons we have learned as a result have reshaped our company and further focused our attention on our core values of safety, quality, and integrity,鈥� Boeing CEO David Calhoun said in a statement.
Boeing鈥檚 redemption comes in the middle of a pandemic that has scared away passengers and decimated the aviation industry, limiting the company鈥檚 ability to make a comeback. Air travel in the U.S. alone is down about 65% from a year ago.
Boeing sales of new planes have plunged because of the Max crisis and the coronavirus pandemic. Orders for more than 1,000 Max jets have been canceled or removed from Boeing鈥檚 backlog this year. Each plane carries a sticker price between $99 million and $135 million, although airlines routinely pay far less than list price.
John Hansman, an aeronautics professor at MIT, said that people typically avoid airplanes for a few months after there are problems. But the Max case is unusual, and were it not for the novel coronavirus, Dr. Hansman said he would feel safe flying on a Max.
鈥淭his whole thing has had more scrutiny than any airplane in the world,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 probably the safest airplane to be on.鈥�
American is the only U.S. airline to put the Max back in its schedule so far, starting with one round trip daily between New York and Miami beginning Dec. 29.
Nearly 400 Max jets were in service worldwide when they were grounded, and Boeing has built and stored about 450 more since then. All have to undergo maintenance and get some modifications before they can fly.
Pilots must also undergo simulator training, which was not required when the aircraft was introduced. Dr. Hansman said pilot training for qualified 737 pilots shouldn鈥檛 take long because Boeing has fixed software problems.
Relatives of people who died in the crashes remain unconvinced of the Max鈥檚 safety. They accused Boeing of hiding critical design features from the FAA and say the company tried to fix the tendency for the plane鈥檚 nose to tip up with software that was implicated in both crashes.
鈥淭he flying public should avoid the Max,鈥� said Michael Stumo, whose daughter died in the second crash. 鈥淐hange your flight. This is still a more dangerous aircraft than other modern planes.鈥�
Boeing鈥檚 reputation has taken a beating since the crashes. Its then-CEO, Dennis Muilenburg, initially suggested that the foreign pilots were to blame. However, congressional investigators discovered an FAA analysis 鈥� conducted after the first Max crash 鈥� that predicted there would be 15 more crashes during the plane鈥檚 life span if the flight-control software were not fixed.
After an 18-month investigation, the House Transportation Committee heaped blame on Boeing, which was under pressure to develop the Max to compete with a plane from European rival Airbus, and the FAA, which certified the Max and was the last agency in the world to ground it after the crashes. The investigators said Boeing suffered from a 鈥渃ulture of concealment,鈥� and pressured engineers in a rush to get the plane on the market.
Boeing was repeatedly wrong about how quickly it could fix the plane. When those predictions continued to be wrong, and Boeing was perceived as putting undue pressure on the FAA, Mr. Muilenburg was fired in December 2019.
Mr. Dickson 鈥� who flew F-15 fighters in the Air Force before serving as a pilot and an executive at Delta Air Lines 鈥� flew the plane personally before it was cleared.
Europe鈥檚 aviation regulator, the European Union Aviation Safety Agency, said it will take public comment on its plans to clear the Max for flight and expects to finalize a plan late this year or early next year. Some EU states will have to lift their own individual grounding notices as well. Regulators in Canada and China are still conducting their own reviews. Relatives say it鈥檚 too soon, and they and their lawyers say Boeing and the FAA are withholding documents.
Anton Sahadi, who lives in Jakarta, Indonesia, and lost two brothers in the Lion Air crash, said he feels it is too early for the Max to fly again.
鈥淭he cases from the incidents are not 100% finished yet,鈥� he said. 鈥淭here are many of them still in process. I think all the victims鈥� family in Indonesia and Ethiopia will feel the same, so regretful, why it can fly again because we are still in the recovery process for our problems because of the incidents.鈥�
Naoise Ryan, an Irish citizen whose husband died in the Ethiopian crash, said the Max is 鈥渢he same airplane that crashed not once but twice because safety was not a priority for this company.鈥�
This story was reported by The Associated Press. Koenig reported from Dallas. Krisher reported from Detroit. Edna Tarigan in Jakarta, Indonesia, and David Risling in Berlin contributed to this report.
