MAX oppdatering - Australia kan forby typen - Curt Lewis

FAA waiting for more software details before 737 MAX can return to service WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Boeing Co (BA.N) still has a series of steps to complete before the 737 MAX can return to service, including submitting a pre-production version of a software update, Federal Aviation Administration chief Steve Dickson said. FILE PHOTO: Grounded Boeing 737 MAX aircraft are seen parked in an aerial photo at Boeing Field in Seattle, Washington, U.S. July 1, 2019. REUTERS/Lindsey Wasson/File Photo Dickson met with Boeing executives in Renton, Washington on Thursday and tested revised software in a simulator. Next week, he will meet with around 50 aviation safety regulators in Montreal to discuss the status of the plane, which has been grounded worldwide since March in the aftermath of two fatal crashes. The FAA has been reviewing proposed software and training changes from Boeing Co (BA.N) for months and it remains uncertain when Boeing will conduct a certification test flight, a step needed before its best-selling plane can fly again. In a telephone interview with Reuters, Dickson laid out a series of steps that must happen before the certification test flight, adding it should then take about another month before the FAA could allow flights to resume absent unforeseen circumstances. "I am not going to sign off on the plane until I am personally satisfied," he said. Some government officials have told Reuters they do not believe Boeing will conduct the certification flight until at least mid-October. Asked if there are at least several weeks of work to be done before that flight can occur, Dickson said he thought that was a "fair statement," but did not want to set a specific date. Asked about reports that the FAA has at times been frustrated with a lack of information from Boeing, Dickson said he is satisfied that Boeing has been responsive to him and added the FAA had made clear what it expected. "We've had conversations about the importance of making sure that we are looking at complete documentation and not piecemeal documentation," Dickson said. "It's really better to be very methodical and very detailed rather than try to rush a partially completed product and then say, 'We'll get back to you with the rest of it.'" Boeing has repeatedly said it hopes to resume flights early in the fourth quarter. The company reiterated Thursday it remains "committed to working collaboratively" with the FAA and other regulators. FAA still needs to see Boeing's "final system description" - a "500-ish page document that has the architecture of the flight control system and the changes that they have made," Dickson said, adding that the software changes must be in a "pre-production" code and not a "beta version". "We need to see that level of refinement and there has been a good bit of back and forth and some constructive discussions," he said. "Until it is locked down, we've got to go make sure that there aren't any new fault trees that have developed that need to be mitigated." Once the system description is completed, the FAA will work with Boeing to develop the "integrated system safety analysis" - a step that will take a few days. Then the FAA will move to the next phase - the pilot workload management scenarios. Once that is done, the agency will be "much closer to a predictable timeline for when the actual certification test flight will occur." The FAA plans to get input from international regulators EASA, Canada and Brazil. "We've got U.S. and international pilots that have to be scheduled to come out and actually go through the scenarios," Dickson said, adding it must also finalize training requirements. Boeing plans to revise the 737 MAX software to take input from both angle-of-attack sensors in the anti-stall system linked to the two deadly crashes. Back to Top

Australia may ban Boeing 737 Max even if US gives it all-clear Civil Aviation Safety Authority says it will make its own call on the 737 Max, which was grounded after two crashes left 346 dead Grounded 737 Max planes at Boeing's facility The Boeing 737 Max has been grounded since March. Casa says it may still ban the plane even if the US Federal Aviation Administration gives it the all-clear. Photograph: Lindsey Wasson/Reuters Australia's air safety regulator may refuse permission for Boeing 737 Max planes to fly even if its US counterpart revokes an order grounding the aircraft, which has crashed twice, leaving 346 people dead. A Civil Aviation Safety Authority spokesman said that the decision of the US Federal Aviation Administration would be an important factor in deciding whether to allow the Max to fly, but Casa would also take into account other information before making its decision. "As the certifying authority for the aircraft type, obviously the FAA is central to the decision as to whether the aircraft flies or not but in this case due to the nature of it there is focus on the aircraft from authorities around the world," the spokesman said. He said Casa had been sharing information with other regulators including the European Union Aviation Safety Agency and the Canadian regulator, Transport Canada, both of which have said they will do their own assessments of the Max. "Those views will form part of our thinking when we make a decision," he said. He said there was no set timeframe in which Casa would make its call. National aviation safety bodies usually accept the decision of a manufacturer's home regulator - in this case the FAA - but the deadly Max crashes have raised concerns the US authority failed to properly oversee Boeing. Global air safety authorities, including Casa, are due to meet on Monday in Montreal to discuss the Max issue at a meeting called by the FAA. No Australian airlines currently fly the Max, but Virgin has 48 on order and Qantas has also expressed interest in buying the plane. Until Casa banned the planes from flying on 13 March it was used by on flights in and out of Australia by two overseas airlines, Fiji Airways and Singapore's SilkAir. The Max, which was Boeing's fastest-selling model, was attractive to airlines because it has larger engines than the standard 737, giving it a longer range and greater capacity. But the planes were grounded in March after Ethiopian Airlines flight 302 crashed in Kenya, killing all 157 people on board. It was the second lethal Max crash in six months. In October 2018, a Lion Air flight from Jakarta to Bangka Island plummeted into the Java Sea, killing all 189 passengers and crew. The day after the Ethiopian Airlines crash the FAA defended the airworthiness of the Max, but within two days it was forced to ground the fleet by Donald Trump. Investigations have focused on an automated system that under some circumstances can compensate for the extra lift generated by the bigger engines by pushing the nose of the plane down. The crashes have also raised concerns that engineering quality at Boeing may have suffered as the company pursued profits in competition with its European rival, Airbus. In early April, the FAA set up a joint technical review team with other aviation authorities, including Europe's Easa and Australia's Casa. A fortnight ago, the FAA said the team was "taking additional time to finish documenting its work". "We expect the group to submit its observations, findings, and recommendations in the coming weeks," it said.

Lone 737 MAX criss-crossed Canada for pilot checks during grounding MONTREAL/PARIS (Reuters) - While the world's Boeing (BA.N) 737 MAX fleet remains grounded after two fatal crashes, a solitary Air Canada (AC.TO) plane has been spotted in the skies, shuttling between Quebec and Ontario. Grounded Boeing 737 MAX aircraft are seen parked in an aerial photo at Boeing Field in Seattle, Washington, U.S. July 1, 2019. Picture taken July 1, 2019. REUTERS/Lindsey Wasson In a rare exemption, approved by Canadian aviation regulator Transport Canada, the 11 flights in August and September were partly to maintain the qualifications of senior training pilots, Air Canada told Reuters in response to a query about flight tracking data. A spokesman for Air Canada said the airline was not able to use similar 737s within its fleet "to maintain check pilot authority in alignment with (Canadian aviation regulations)". "So we are utilizing the 737 Max during planned maintenance movements to maintain qualification." Between Aug 28 and Sept 8 the Air Canada MAX plane criss-crossed between Montreal, Val d'Or, Quebec and North Bay, Ontario, data from Tracking website FlightRadar24 shows. Then last week, it was flown to Pinal Airpark in Arizona to be parked in a desert storage site. Although unusual after the grounding imposed worldwide in March amid concerns over an anti-stall system, the flights highlight growing pressures facing some airlines as they prepare for the return to service of the 400-plane Boeing fleet. The planes have been sitting idle since March following two crashes in the space of five months. For airlines like Air Canada, which did not have earlier versions of Boeing 737s in their fleets, this has made it difficult to make sure pilots can demonstrate the skills required to retain their licenses. As North America's sole MAX operator which had not flown the earlier 737NG, Air Canada cannot use that model to maintain the qualifications of its check or trainer pilots, the company said. So regulator Transport Canada authorized a select group of Air Canada's check pilots to fly the grounded jet, which was also conducting maintenance flights, the airline said. All the jets have the same control software suspected of contributing to the accidents, which Boeing is now in the process of revising to smooth its impact. However, some pilots have said existing procedures can prevent similar accidents. Boeing declined to comment. MARKET BATTLE Transport Canada said in an email that it authorized the flights "because the carrier does not operate the Boeing 737 NG aircraft, but the pilots still need to maintain currency." However, one U.S. carrier questioned by Reuters said such flights would not be possible in the United States where pilot training was not included in a list of exemptions to the ban issued by the Federal Aviation Administration. "Pilot currency isn't a listed exemption in the U.S. order," an FAA spokeswoman confirmed. North American MAX operators, including Southwest Airlines (LUV.N), American Airlines (AAL.O), United Airlines (UAL.O) and Canada's WestJet Airlines (WJA.TO), said they would only move their MAX jets for maintenance and storage purposes. Air Canada's position as a newly-converted 737 operator follows a seven-year battle between Boeing and Airbus over the introduction of airplanes offering bold new fuel savings. The introduction of the MAX, an upgrade of earlier 737 models with advanced new engines, coincided with a bitter contest for market share between Boeing and Europe's Airbus (AIR.PA), which was offering its similar A320neo. The feud saw both planemakers use the transition to a new generation of jets to try to poach each other's customers, and traders said Air Canada's 2013 decision to switch from Airbus's A320 family to Boeing's 737 MAX stood out as a major defection. Now, the decision to switch suppliers potentially weighs on some of those same airlines as they cope without a 737 fleet. Boeing has predicted that the 737 MAX will be cleared to take passengers early next quarter. The FAA, facing growing international scrutiny over its certification processes, has said it cannot give a precise date for the approval of software and training changes carried out in the wake of the two accidents, which killed 346 people. FAA chief Stephen Dickson plans to fly to Seattle this week to test modified 737 MAX software in a simulator..