"A dangerous aircraft"

The 245-page report published on September 16, 2020 on the investigation by the US Congressional Committee on the design, development and certification of the Boeing 737 Max does not go hand in hand with the Seattle aircraft manufacturer as well. than the FAA. He spelled out that "Boeing and the FAA share responsibility for the development and final certification of a dangerous aircraft. Both must learn critical lessons from these tragic accidents to improve the certification process and the FAA must improve significantly. his oversight of Boeing ". This report cites a series of engineering failures, mismanagement and oversight issues leading to the two crashes that killed 346 people.

Insufficient FAA oversight

"A manufacturer that was once great" This is what can be read in the conclusions, which stress the need to restore Seattle to a culture of safety, which the aircraft manufacturer is currently striving to achieve. like restoring a tarnished image. The findings state that the accidents, the first involving a Lion Air 737 MAX8, on October 29, 2018 and the second Ethiopian Airlines also involving a 737 MAX8, which occurred on March 10, 2019, were not the result of a failure. or a technical error, but a series of incorrect technical assumptions on the part of Boeing engineers, a lack of transparency on the part of Boeing management and insufficient monitoring on the part of the FAA.

Missed opportunities

The report also emphasizes the multiple missed opportunities that could have transformed the design and development of the 737 MAX, missed opportunities in particular due to production pressures. Unsurprisingly, the report also notes flawed design assumptions on Boeing’s part centered around the aircraft’s MCAS and its operation linked to a single AOA sensor. As we previously mentioned in one of our print editions, the report states that Boeing incorrectly assumed that pilots, most of whom had no knowledge of the system, would be able to overcome any malfunction. Boeing also failed to classify MCAS as a safety critical system, which would have triggered further scrutiny by the FAA during the certification process ... and possibly saved lives. A report that we will talk about shortly.