Friction Between U.S., European Regulators Could Delay 737 MAX Return to Service European air-safety

Source: The Wall Street Journal.

WSJ NEWS EXCLUSIVE BUSINESS
Friction Between U.S., European Regulators Could Delay 737 MAX Return to Service
European air-safety regulator has indicated it wants more testing on proposed revisions to flight-control computers

By Andy Pasztor and Andrew Tangel
Oct. 8, 2019 5:30 am ET

Boeing Co. 's delay-prone effort to return 737 MAX jets to service has hit a new snag, according to people familiar with the details, due to heightened European safety concerns about portions of proposed fixes to flight-control systems.

Disagreements over various software details, centered on how the MAX's dual flight-control computers are now intended to start working together, haven't been reported before. The issue could prolong final vetting of the anticipated changes and may prompt European regulators to withhold their full support when the Federal Aviation Administration ultimately allows the planes back in the air, these people said.

The European Union Aviation Safety Agency recently told senior U.S. regulators it wasn't satisfied that FAA and Boeing officials had adequately demonstrated the safety of reconfigured MAX flight-control computers, according to people briefed on the discussions. The aim is to add redundancy by having both computers work simultaneously to eliminate hazards stemming from possible chip malfunctions identified months ago; over decades, and on previous versions of the 737, only one computer at a time has fed data to automated systems, alternating between flights. The concerns were passed on by EASA chief Patrick Ky to Ali Bahrami, the FAA's top safety official, one of the people said.

EASA said it hadn't reached a verdict on Boeing's fixes or whether the agency will act in tandem with the FAA.
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Write to Andy Pasztor at andy.pasztor@wsj.com and Andrew Tangel at Andrew.Tangel@wsj.com

Read more: https://www.wsj.com/articles/friction-between-u-s-european-regulators-could-delay-737-max-return-to-service-11570527001

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ANDY.PASZTOR@WSJ.COM

ANDREW.TANGEL@WSJ.COM

https://twitter.com/AndrewTangel

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