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The Federal Aviation Administration authorized the Boeing 737 Max to fly for the first time since the plane was involved in two fatal crashes five months apart. On Wednesday, FAA Administrator Steve Dickson signed an order that paves the way for the troubled aircraft to return to commercial service.
The Boeing 737 Max has been on the ground since March 2019 after two fatal accidents that killed a total of 346 passengers and crew members. Boeing continued to manufacture the aircraft, but in December 2019, the company announced plans to halt production at its Renton, Washington, manufacturing plant. Production resumed in May 2020, but at a much slower pace and with a renewed focus on safety and quality in the workplace.
The FAA says its security personnel have “worked diligently to identify and address the safety issues” that contributed to the Lion Air Flight 610 crash on October 29, 2018, followed by the Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 crash on October 10. March 2019. President Donald Trump approved grounding the plane three days later, after nearly 40 countries followed suit.
“The road that got us to this point was long and exhausting,” Dickson said in a video message. “But we said from the beginning that we would take the time to get it right.”
One of the particular problems that doomed both flights was software known as the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System, or MCAS, which was designed to prevent the plane from stalling in very specific take-off situations. Using information from sensors on the outside of the plane, MCAS was able to tilt the nose of the plane down if it thought it was too high an angle.
A major problem with MCAS was that, in an attempt to circumvent the lengthy and costly process of retraining pilots in this new piece of software, Boeing simply hid it from them and the FAA. Another was that MCAS only pulled data from an external sensor, which means it could be misplaced if that sensor goes bad. All of this led the pilots of both fatal flights to struggle to try to fix a problem they did not understand in its final moments.
As part of its lengthy review process, the FAA required Boeing to install new software for the aircraft’s flight control computer and displays, review its manual and improve its flight crew training, and implement new maintenance procedures.
Dickson said he flew the 737 Max himself for two hours in September to personally evaluate the changes the company made to the flight control software. “Over the past 20 months, and my personal experience flying the plane, I can tell you now that I am 100% comfortable with my family flying in it this morning,” he said.
The Boeing 737 Max returns to service at an uncertain time for the airline industry. The coronavirus crisis has pushed the industry to the brink of financial ruin, with all major airlines experiencing historic losses. Together, the Big Three (United, Delta and American) lost a staggering $ 10 billion during the second quarter of 2020. JetBlue lost $ 320 million, Southwest $ 915 million, and low-cost carriers Spirit and Alaska lost $ 144 million and $ 214 million, respectively.
Airports are described as “ghost towns”. On November 17, the Transportation Security Administration registered 611,497 air travelers, up from 1,900,895 passengers on the same day in 2019.
Boeing has also been hit hard. The Chicago-based aircraft maker, America’s largest exporter, laid off 7,000 workers in October, after cutting its workforce by 19,000 employees earlier this year.
The end of the nearly two-year ban means Boeing can begin to deliver its order book of around 3,000 737 Max jets to customers. But the fatal accidents and subsequent investigations forced the company to reassess its safety culture. Former CEO Dennis Muilenburg was forced to resign in December 2019, less than a year after the Lion Air 610 crash.
Muilenburg spent much of 2019 trying to reassure the public about the safety of the 737 Max, while promising shareholders and industry partners that the plane would be back in the air by the end of the year, prompting US airlines such as Southwest , American and United once again flew to review their predictions on when they might reintroduce the 737 Max into their respective fleets.
“We will never forget the lives lost in the two tragic accidents that led to the decision to suspend operations,” Muilenburg’s replacement David Calhoun said in a statement. “These events and the lessons we have learned as a result have reshaped our company and further focused our attention on our core values of safety, quality and integrity.”
