alt Hacker NewsFAA lets Boeing sign off on 737 MAX, 787 airworthiness certificates again
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The 737 has had 14 major recertifications. The aircraft today looks/behaves nothing like the original from the 1960s.
The main motivation for recertifications comes from commercial pressure where if a aircraft is given a new number and not recertified, then the pilots have to be retrained.
Honestly, back when the 737 MAX debacle happened, a lot of consumers claimed that they would stop flying aircrafts if they ran into 737 MAXs. And I don't think it happened in enough numbers - or even enough to make news. Sales went through the roof, everything kept working.
Recertifications are very common. The issue really is is the aircraft is AS different and untested as the old MAXs, and I really can't see that happening again in the next decade or two atleast.
> The U.S. government on Friday said Boeing can once again issue airworthiness certificates for its bestselling 737 Max aircraft and 787 Dreamliners, an authority that was stripped from the manufacturer after fatal crashes in 2018 and 2019 of the 737 Max.
I'm a bit confused by this. From what I've read an "airworthiness certificate" is not a certificate that the aircraft design is good and safe. That would be a type certificate.
The airworthiness certificate is issued for a particular aircraft and certifies that it conforms to the approved design for that type of aircraft, all outstanding airworthiness directives applicable to the type have been applied, no unsafe alterations or repairs have been made, all required documentation and logs are present, the inspector doesn't see any damage, leaks, or other problems that could make it unsafe, and other things like that.
The two 737 MAX crashes had nothing to do with anything that would have been found during their airworthiness inspections. They were functioning exactly as they were designed to, as covered by their type certificate.
So what was the point of suspending Boeing's authority to do those inspections?
Just to comprehend this a bit better - it sounds like the FAA had stripped Boeing of the ability to self-recertify and actually sent inspectors for the most recent certifications. After several successful certifications and what would appear, to the inspectors, to be real process improvements, they're now re-granting Boeing the ability to self-recertify when self-recertification is allowed?
This is well outside my knowledge domain so I'm not trying to make any statements on whether this was correct, but rather to better comprehend the change.
Yeah, not thanks. A company being kept alive by the US government is not one I'll ever trust with my life.
Boeing was vibe-manufacturing at least a decade before anyone started using the word. Now they can have an llm say all tests passed.
Who gave whom a golden airplane ... totally worth it, for them at least.
I only fly airbus. If it’s Boeing, I ain’t going.
All I read is that the US govt signs on off US export. I'd be surprised if there was not pressure on FAA to lower the bar.
Until the next mass crash ...
Totally insane. Repeating the same errors as in the past and hoping for a better outcome... Only corruption can explain that...
People are Boeing to die
The EU should refuse to allow such planes to enter their airspace.
Recently I was on the tarmac watching people load up on a 737 MAX on an island runway where the takeoff direction was TOWARDS a mountain. I said a prayer.