Boeing’s troubled 737 Max will not take to the skies until U.S. regulators determine the aircraft is safe and pilots are fully versed in how to handle the aircraft grounded after two deadly crashes, Federal Aviation Administration Administrator Stephen Dickson told lawmakers on Wednesday.
Boeing hoped to get its MAX software changes certified by the end of the year, but Dickson said his agency has not set a date for clearing the plane for takeoff and isn’t taking the manufacturer’s preferences into account.
How to watch the hearing on the Boeing 737 Max
- What: Stephen Dickson, Edward Pierson and others testify to the House Transportation Committee in a hearing on “The Boeing 737 MAX: Examining the Federal Aviation Administration’s Oversight of the Aircraft’s Certification.”
- Date: Wednesday, December 11, 2019
- Time: 10:00 a.m. ET
- Location: 2167 Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, D.C.
- Online stream: Live on CBSN – in the player above or on your mobile or streaming device
The fifth such hearing is taking place more than a year after a 737 Max crashed off the coast of Indonesia and more than nine months after a second crash in Ethiopia. In all, 346 people died. The aircraft has been grounded since March.
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The FAA is “not delegating anything to Boeing,” he told the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. “When the 737 Max returns to service, the safety issues will have been addressed and pilots will have all the training they need,” Dickson said. “I’m not going to sign off on this airplane until I fly it myself.”
He told CNBC ahead of the hearing that the process to re-certify the 737 Max will extend into 2020.
Dickson’s appearance coincided with the release of an internal FAA analysis that shed light on the agency’s decision to let the 737 Max jet continue flying after its first fatal crash, of Lion Air flight 610, in October of 2018. The internal FAA research suggests the agency had determined that, without design changes, the 737 Max could average a fatal crash every two to three years.
Edward Pierson, a former Boeing employee who raised concerns about problems with 737 production, was also among those set to testify on Wednesday.
