Twenty months after staying on the tarmac due to its two fatal crashes, Boeing's 737 Max airliner received the green light to resume its passenger flights after the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has made the announcement on Wednesday.
But despite the go-signal given to the American Multinational Corporation for the plane's return to the skies, it will not be immediate due to the 115-page directive and series of requirements laid by the FAA regarding the design changes.
The Administration did not only put forward training requirements for pilots but also for maintenance requirements for airlines, NPR reported.
Following the FAA announcement, the Air Line Pilots Association released their statement and shared that they believed that the engineering fixes to the flight-critical aircraft systems are sound. It will be an effective component as it will lead to the safe return of service of Boeing's 737 MAX.
After a 737 Max, which was operated by Ethiopian Airlines, crashed and killed all 157 people on board, the aviation authorities worldwide and the FAA in March of 2019 ordered that the aircraft type be grounded.
According to Bloomberg, the tragic incident happened less than five months after Lion Air's operated 737 Max crashed in Indonesia, killing all 189 passengers, including its crew.
The two crash incidents were linked after the investigations to the faulty sensors and a flawed flight control system wherein it repeatedly forced the planes into nose dives and put the pilots into a situation where they were not able to control the craft anymore.
The company had admitted that they knew about the problems with the plane a year before the deadly crashes happened, but they failed to take action.
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According to the investigators, when they looked into the cause of the two crashes, they have found a culture of concealment at the manufacturer.
Critics have accused Boeing of cutting corners in a rush to develop the 737 Max, which was billed to airlines as a new and more efficient version of the vulnerable medium-haul aircraft.
Not only was Boeing widely criticized over the way the 737 Max was initially certified but also the FAA as well.
Based on a congressional inquiry, they found troubling management misjudgments and a disturbing pattern of technical miscalculations made by the airplane maker, which is also a grossly insufficient oversight by the FAA, Politico reported.
Former Delta Air Lines pilot and executive Steve Dickson, who is now the FAA Administrator, made good on a promise not to sign off on recertifying the Max until he flew the aircraft himself.
On September 30, the FAA Administrator piloted a 737 Max out of a Boeing Field in Seattle and put it through its paces to check the credibility of its flight control system.
After he made the landing, Dickson shared with the reporters that he liked what he saw.
Despite the recommendation and approval coming from the FAA Administrator, the families of the victims of the two crashes are still emphasizing that they do not believe that the plane is already safe.
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