US Federal Aviation Agency to Advance Aircraft Certification Procedures Before Congress

The Federal Aviation Agency of the United States (FAAwill defend its aircraft certification methods on Wednesday, recognizing that they must "evolve" after two fatal Boeing 737 MAX 8, according to statements made by the Director to the United States Congress, obtained by the AFP.

The parliamentarians summoned the leaders of the aviation security authorities, including Dan Elwell, Acting Director of the FAA, to clarify the certification requirements of this device.

The two disasters, which involved two Boeing 737 MAX 8s, occurred less than five months apart and revealed flaws in MCAS, a stabilization system designed to balance the nose of the device in case of risk of stagnation or loss of elevation.

On March 13, the FAA decided to keep its entire Boeing 737 MAX fleet on the ground, based on satellite data showing similarities between the crash of Indonesian society. Lion Air October 29 and Ethiopian Airlines on March 10, which killed 346 people.

The FAA has been criticized for being slow to make this decision, while its counterparts around the world have already banned theft of these devices. Suspicions of collusion arose between the agency and the American manufacturer.

The FAA, which delegated some of the certification work to Boeing, "was directly involved" in the approval of the MCAS, Dan Elwell told a Senate committee.

"Engineers and test pilots participated in the operational evaluation of the MCAS"he will say.

"As the aerospace system and its components become incredibly more complex, we know that our surveillance approach must evolve to keep the FAA the world leader in aviation safety," he said.

Elwell will also note that the FAA will not allow the Boeing 737 MAX to resume operations until technical data and event badysis show that it is capable of doing so.

The MAX certification process, which lasted five years in total, "included 29 certification test flights, some of which tested MCAS functions".

The statement from Elwell found that Boeing had submitted to the FAA a request for certification for its MCAS update on January 21, that is, prior to the accident. Ethiopian. The FAA has tested "this enhancement of the 737 MAX flight control system with a simulator and the aircraft itself".