It's been a little over two years since the Boeing 737 Max 8 first crashed, but the grounded aircraft may finally see the end of the runway. Earlier this week, FAA Administrator Steve Dickson said the agency's recertification review of the airliner was almost complete.
"The Federal Aviation Administration is in the final stages of reviewing the proposed changes to the Boeing 737 MAX," he said in a statement sent to CNET. "We expect this process to be completed in the coming days once the agency is convinced that Boeing has resolved the safety issues."
For more of that
Subscribe to the CNET Now newsletter to receive the most important stories of the day from our editors.
An FAA spokesman did not confirm a Reuters report that the process could be completed by November 18, but that date would match previous predictions that the FAA would finish its work by the end of this year. The 737 Max has been on the ground worldwide since March 2019 after 346 people died in two accidents, the first of which occurred in Indonesia in October 2018.
Boeing says it has now repaired the MCAS flight control system that was blamed for both accidents. In September, Dickson assessed these changes when he piloted the Max on a test flight.
The agency's final step is to confirm the list of changes Boeing will need to make to MCAS and establish new training procedures that Max pilots will need to go through. Only then will the FAA lift the basic order (aviation safety authorities in Canada and the European Union carry out their own inspections of the aircraft).
"The agency will take the time it needs to thoroughly review the remaining work," said Dickson. "Although we are nearing the finish line, I will not break the grounding sequence until our safety experts are satisfied that the aircraft meets certification standards."
See also: Best airline credit cards for November 2020
Source link
