by Donald Wood
Last updated: 8:30 AM ET, Wed November 29, 2023
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced a new
aircraft certification policy requiring significant flight control design
changes to be heavily scrutinized before approval to avoid issues exposed
during the two fatal Boeing 737 MAX crashes in 2018 and 2019.
According to Reuters.com,
FAA officials revealed Tuesday that it would provide “additional guidance” to airplane
manufacturers on what classifies as safety-critical information that must be
shared with regulators.
The FAA believes the additional steps will “improve aircraft
certification safety.”
The United States Congress passed legislation in 2020
calling on airplane manufacturers to disclose critical safety information to
the FAA, including changes to “flight controls without direct pilot input or
commands,” like those that caused the MAX crashes.
In July, the FAA established milestones to determine whether
design changes required additional scrutiny. The government agency was forced
to make changes after the House of Representatives found Boeing failed to
classify changes made to the MAX planes as safety-critical, which ultimately
led to the deaths of 346 people in two crashes.
In response, Boeing officials revealed they continue to work
with the FAA “to ensure we continue to meet all requirements in the
certification process.”
FAA officials are still considering whether to certify two
additional MAX plane variants.
Earlier this month, a report from an independent panel of
aviation experts found that dysfunction in Congress, including the scrambling
by the government to avoid shutdowns, as well as an underfunded
FAA, are the root causes of a growing number of near-misses.
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