The head of the US Federal Aviation Administration began a test flight of Boeing’s revamped 737 MAX airliner on Wednesday as the agency considers whether to allow the plane to return to flight after two deadly crashes.
FAA Administrator Stephen Dickson, a pilot who flew for the US military and Delta Air Lines, was expected to sit in the captain’s seat during a two-hour flight. An FAA spokesman said Boeing pilots would also be on the plane when it takes off from the former Boeing Field in the Seattle, Washington area.
The crew put the jet through repeated changes in direction, speed and altitude as it headed east over the Cascade Range into central Washington state, according to data from tracking site Flightradar24.com.
The MAX has been grounded since March 2019, after the second crash. Both crashes have been blamed on an automated anti-stall system that pushed the noses of the planes down based on faulty readings from sensors. Boeing hopes to win FAA approval later this year for changes it has made to flight-control software and computers.
In Washington, the House Transportation Committee approved legislation to change the way the FAA certifies new planes, including the agency’s reliance on employees of Boeing and other aircraft makers to perform key safety analysis.
The bill would not eliminate the FAA’s use of private-sector employees to review their own companies’ planes – legislators believe it would be too expensive for FAA to do the work, and that the aerospace companies have more technical expertise. Instead, the bill would give FAA approval over picking private-sector employees who perform safety analysis and allow civil penalties for companies that interfere with their work. Boeing whistleblowers complained of pressure to approve systems on the MAX.
“Those crashes were the inevitable culmination of stunning acts of omissions within Boeing and the Federal Aviation Administration,” said committee Chairman Peter DeFazio, D-Oregon.
Representative Garret Graves, R-Louisiana, a staunch defender of the FAA, said the agency represents “the gold standard” in aviation regulation but the crashes show the need for improvement.
The committee approved the bill by what appeared to be a unanimous voice vote. Representative Paul Mitchell, R-Michigan, left the meeting after complaining that legislators had only one day to read the bill, which he called an “absurd” rush for such a complex, technical subject.
The measure, based on recommendations from US and international regulators and safety investigators, goes next to the full House. Its fate is uncertain, however. A similar bill was pulled from consideration in a Senate committee on September 16, and Congress is rushing to adjourn so legislators can go home and campaign for re-election.
Credit: Source link