FAA says there could be delay in Boeing 737 MAX software fix

[brooklynite]

Source: The Hill

The Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) on Thursday said that it could be up to a year before Boeing's 737 MAX jets are cleared once again for commercial flights.

At a press conference, FAA chief Daniel Elwell said that his agency could take up to a year to recertify the jets after Boeing pushed out a software update addressing sensor issues believed to be at fault behind two deadly crashes involving the jets in six months' time.

"If you said October I wouldn't even say that, only because we haven't finished determining exactly what the training requirements will be," Elwell said, according to the BBC.

"If it takes a year to find everything we need to give us the confidence to lift the [grounding] order so be it," he added.

Read more: https://thehill.com/policy/transportation/445366-faa-says-there-could-be-delay-in-boeing-737-max-software-fix

[Maxheader]

1. Not good...

Maybe if the faa had been more involved up front..during the development lives might have been saved...

[groundloop]

2. Yep..... what could possibly go wrong with letting manufacturers 'self certify'???

[CentralMass]

5. This is on Boeing.

[mitch96]

3. From what I've read it's the "econo" engines that cause the stall characters..

and the software was installed to prevent the stall.. They wanted to have their cake and eat it too. So now Boeing's problem is to get a fix and still used the econo engines. The other alternative is to install the old engines and get not so hot economy..... which was the selling point for the 737 max...
m

[Angleae]

8. It's not so much as the engine as the pylon it's mounted on.

The new engine is larger than the one on the nextgen 737s so the pylon has to mount it higher and further forward. Putting the old engines on requires putting the old pylons on. I'm not sure if it's even possible to put the old pylons back on.

[Sherman A1]

9. Yup,

It is simply a bad design being "fixed" by software. The 737-8 Max needs to head to the scrap yard before anyone else is killed.

[VMA131Marine]

4. This is going to be bad for GE

They are the sole supplier of the LEAP engines for the MAX and deliveries for the aircraft represent a large fraction of their future engine sales.

[Hugin]

6. Translation: It's more than a software fix.

And the Republicans wanted to privatize the FAA.

[lunasun]

7. boeing was trying to push it to a late summer 19 clearance . I appreciate the push back on boeing

i wonder if they get other countries to put them back in the air earlier ....

Boeing announced earlier this month that a software update for its 737 Max jets would be rolled out free of charge alongside training for pilots to address issues leading to the plane's grounding by every aviation agency in the world.

“With safety as our clear priority, we have completed all of the engineering test flights for the software update and are preparing for the final certification flight,” CEO Dennis Muilenburg said in early May.