U.S. might approve the 737 MAX to fly — but will the world follow?
WASHINGTON - The Federal Aviation Administration may be close to letting Boeing’s 737 MAX back in the skies — but it's not clear the rest of the world is ready to follow. Six months after the U.S. was the last major country to ground the MAX following two fatal crashes, the European Union Aviation Safety Agency is saying it will not simply accept the FAA’s determinations about returning the plane to service — and it wants its own pilots and engineers on board test flights. In recent days, India and the United Arab Emirates have set their own conditions as well, report Kathryn A. Wolfe and Brianna Gurciullo for Politico. Continue reading original article
The Intelligent Aerospace take:
September 18, 2019 -The FAA hasn't given any timetable for the "un-grounding" of Boeing's 737 MAX, and have pledged to give its OK only when it is confident the passenger jet is safe to fly. That is a sentiment echoed by other regulators, and there is nothing indicating that the troubled aircraft will return to service in every market at the same time.
Patrick Ky, from Europe's FAA counterpart EASA, noted “it’s very likely that international authorities will want a second opinion, or a third opinion.”
It was a sentiment echoed by Guillaume Faury, who heads Airbus, the chief rival of Boeing. “The FAA has to go through it and regain credibility and trust," Faury said in an interview with Politico. "I believe EASA running its own process and at a given point in time coming to its own conclusion will help regaining trust of the FAA, provided the FAA does what they have to do and improve their processes."
Related: FAA chief to test out changes to Boeing 737 Max software in simulator
Jamie Whitney, Associate Editor
Intelligent Aerospace
