Boeing has completed the last official engineering flight test of updated Boeing 737 MAX software update prior to a certification flight with the US Federal Aviation Administration.
Boeing chief executive Dennis Muilenburg said the company’s test pilots on April 16 completed 120 MAX flights totaling more than 203 hours of air time with the updated maneuvring characteristics augmentation system software.
“We’re making steady progress towards certification,’’ he said in a tweet. “Yesterday we completed the official engineering flight test of the updated software with our technical and engineering leaders on board the airplane.
“That was the final test flight prior to the certification flight.’
Muilenburg said he had completed a demonstration flight and had seen first hand the software in its final form “operating as designed across a range of flight conditions”.
“And around the world, more than 85 percent of 50 plus MAX customers and operators have now experienced the new software through a series of simulator sessions.”
The Boeing boss said a team of Boeing pilots, engineers, technical experts and the company’s partners had comprehensively tested the software to make sure it did the job.
“And they’re taking the time to get it right,’’ he said. “Safety is our responsibility — e own it — and the work of our team will make the &37 MAX one of the safest airplanes ever to fly.
“That’s our commitment.”
READ: Canadians and US differ on 737 MAX training.
The aircraft manufacturer now has to convince the FAA and other regulators around the world that the software fix and related training changes mean the MAX is safe to fly again.
Equally importantly, it has to persuade the flying public that its commitment is not just another example of the spin they have come to expect from big corporations.
That will require open and comprehensible explanations of what the company has done to ensure there is no repeat of October’s Lion Air crash and last month’s Ethiopian Airlines tragedy.
This is despite the fact that air safety investigators from both countries have yet to identify probable causes for the crashes and may not have done so by the time it returns to service.
In both cases, it is likely to be a chain of events in which MCAS played a part but was not solely responsible for the end result.
A number of chief executives from airlines operating the MAX have expressed confidence the company’s software fix will ensure the plane is safe.
But comments by Canada’s Transport Minister on Thursday about proposed changes to MAX training suggest the road to redemption may have a few potholes.
