Boeing Max jet's return could vary by region

Regulators worldwide may recertify the Boeing 737 Max jet for commercial service at different times, creating a staggered return of the plane and underscoring a lack of trust in the US Federal Aviation Administration, or FAA, an industry expert said.

In the past, overseas regulators have generally followed the lead of the FAA and accepted its findings, but that may change after crashes of the two Max jets that killed a total of 346.

Investigators have focused on the Max's anti-stall device that may have erroneously pointed the nose of the planes down to avoid a midair stall and into a fatal plunge.

"The FAA and its oversight by Congress resulted in destroying the reputation built on half a century of certification expertise," James Hall, managing partner of Hall and Associates in Washington and a former chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board, told China Daily. "When the FAA failed to ground the aircraft after the first accident or immediately after the second, the FAA forfeited its leadership on aviation issues."

Hall has criticized FAA's use of Boeing employees as part of the process to declare a plane safe. In an opinion article published in The New York Times, he called it a "worrying move toward industry self-certification".

Patrick Ky of the European Union Aviation Safety Agency said the FAA's worldwide reputation is in a "very difficult situation".

"It's likely that international authorities will want a second - or third - opinion," he told CNN. "And (that) was not the case one year ago. I think that's going to be a very strong change in the overall worldwide hierarchy or relationship between the different authorities."

Some analysts said technological innovation in contemporary planes has outstripped the ability of regulators to keep up with advancements. They note that the FAA's practice of relying on industry insiders is no different from the US Food and Drug Administration's reliance on experts from the companies it regulates.

"I think it's just concern on the part of some regulatory agencies that withdrew their airworthiness certificates before the FAA did," Robert Mann, president of US consulting agency RW Mann and Co told China Daily.

"It shows their comfort level is different from the FAA's comfort level. I don't see it as anything other than having a different point of view on how the aircraft is tested for recertification and how pilot training ought to be handled."

The FAA said review of the software update continues for the Max jet's Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System, the anti-stall system implicated in the two crashes.

"The FAA has a transparent and collaborative relationship with other civil aviation authorities as we continue our review of changes to software on the Boeing 737 Max," the agency said in a statement. "Our first priority is safety, and we have set no time frame for when the work will be completed."

scottreeves@chinadailyusa.com

(China Daily 09/12/2019 page12)