American aviation giant Boeing is reportedly preparing to conduct the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) certification test flights for its much-maligned 737 MAX fleet which can happen as early as tomorrow.
GCC Business News had reported earlier this month that the aviation titan is expected to conduct test flights by the end of the month.
The 737 MAX test flights which are expected to be conducted over a minimum period of 2 days is a significant moment for Boeing which has taken severe criticism upon the worst-ever corporate crisis that happened when it grounded its fast-selling 737 MAX in March 2019 after crashes killed 346 people in Ethiopia and Indonesia.
The event triggered hundreds of lawsuits which led to investigations by the US Congress and the Department of Justice, cutting off key sources of Boeing’s cash adding to the liquidity crunch which has long since compounded by the pandemic resulting in reduced air travel demands.
The certification tests are suggested to ensure that new failsafe Boeing added to the MCAS flight control system is strong enough to prevent the scenario pilots encountered in both crash flights when they were unable to take over from the system and struggled with several other issues leading to the fatal crash.
During the tests, pilots are expected to intentionally trigger the reprogrammed MCAS stall-prevention software which failed during the fatal crashes and will likely perform a full aerodynamic stall.
Once the tests are conducted successfully, FAA would then work on approving new pilot training procedures and complete other steps and with the official clearance expected to happen only in September
Both Boeing and the FAA have declined to add any comments on the revelation.
