US FAA tells manufacturers to disclose safety critical information after Boeing 737 MAX crashes

12:26 pm Wednesday, July 26th, 2023

By David Shepardson

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said Wednesday it is requiring airplane manufacturers to submit and disclose safety critical information to the agency — including changes to key flight control systems — during the certification process after two fatal Boeing 737 MAX crashes.

The draft policy, which is open to public comment through Aug. 25, was mandated by Congress in 2020 as part of sweeping reforms of the certification process following the 2018 and 2019 Boeing crashes that killed 346 people.

The FAA said Wednesday it “will establish milestones throughout the certification process that will help the agency assess whether any design changes to airplane systems should be considered novel or unusual, and therefore require additional scrutiny.”

Boeing and Airbus did not immediately comment.

Boeing did not disclose key details to the FAA of a safety system called MCAS, which was linked to both fatal crashes and designed to help counter a tendency of the MAX to pitch up.

The crashes, which have cost Boeing more than $20 billion in compensation, production costs, and fines, led to a 20-month grounding for the best-selling plane. The FAA is still considering whether to certify two additional variants of the MAX — the smaller MAX 7 and larger MAX 10.

A House report said Boeing failed to classify MCAS as a safety-critical system, which would have attracted greater FAA scrutiny during the certification process and said the “FAA failed in its oversight of Boeing and its certification of the aircraft.”

Last year, the FAA granted Boeing shorter regulatory compliance program extension than the planemaker sought, so it can ensure the company implements “required improvements.”

The FAA in March 2022 opted to renew Boeing’s Organization Designation Authorization (ODA) program for three years rather than the five years Boeing had asked for.

In December 2021, a U.S. Senate report said the FAA must do a better job overseeing Boeing and the certification of new airplanes, as well as review allegations raised by whistleblowers.

(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)