FAA Tightens Certification Oversight

The FAA says it will require aircraft manufacturers to disclose the fine details of changes to safety-critical systems during the certification process for new aircraft. The agency told Reuters it…

The FAA says it will require aircraft manufacturers to disclose the fine details of changes to safety-critical systems during the certification process for new aircraft. The agency told Reuters it will "establish milestones throughout the certification process that will help the agency assess whether any design changes to airplane systems should be considered novel or unusual, and therefore require additional scrutiny." Comments will be accepted on the proposed new policies until Aug. 25.

The new policies are a direct result of the numerous probes into the FAA and Boeing's actions during certification of the 737 MAX. Boeing engineers failed to disclose the impact of changes made to the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System, which was a key factor in the crash of two MAXes. House and Senate investigation reports told the FAA it needed better oversight of certification.

Russ Niles is Editor-in-Chief of AVweb. He has been a pilot for 30 years and joined AVweb 22 years ago. He and his wife Marni live in southern British Columbia where they also operate a small winery.