Two members of the US House of Representatives have joined families of the 737 MAX crash victims in calling for greater transparency in the ongoing recertification process.
Representatives Peter DeFazio, chair of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, and Rick Larsen, who heads an aviation subcommittee, have encouraged the Federal Aviation Administration to release all its documents related to its safety investigations, tests, and upgrades on the embattled 737 MAX.
The members said that before the FAA gives its official go-ahead for the aircraft to return to commercial service, it should release its “system safety assessments, related analysis, assumptions about pilot response times and key test data concerning the safety of the aircraft”.
“To assure the flying public that Boeing’s fixes to the MAX have rendered the plane safe to once again carry passengers, the FAA will need to do more than merely certify that the plane is now compliant,” the US lawmakers said.
The call joins that of others, including family members of the crash victims, who would also like to see the full details of the safety recertification process.
Michael Stumo, whose daughter was among the 157 people killed in the second 737 MAX crash in Ethiopia, said the FAA should release all test data and flight information to the public, so that independent external experts can weigh in on these safety upgrades prior to recertification.
“Without that secret data, independent experts and the public cannot confirm whether the aircraft is safe,” Stumo said.
The FAA declined to provide further information to the media, however did say that being “fully transparent … will only be the first of many steps forward towards this goal that the FAA must take to regain the trust of the flying public”.
Meanwhile, FAA administrator Steve Dickson defended the FAA’s public disclosures to date.
“I think we have been transparent to an unprecedented degree. .. I understand the desire for transparency. We are providing everything we can, within the law,” Dickson said.
Dickson, himself a former commercial and military pilot, recently conducted a two-hour evaluation flight of a 737 MAX after vowing to only give his personal green-light on the recertification efforts after personally testing the aircraft.
“I like what I saw on the flight,” Dickson said following his landing, however noted that he was not yet ready to give his official tick of approval, as FAA reviews continue on the jet.
“We are not to the point yet where we have completed the process,” he added.
Families of the crash victims labelled the act as a mere “publicity stunt”, and reiterated their desire for more transparency in the process.
The FAA still needs to finalise its approvals of the updated safety measures on the 737 MAX before it can return to service.
However, inside sources believe that the FAA is likely to lift the US grounding order on the aircraft in November, with the European aviation safety agency to follow suit.
This could see the MAX return to commercial service before the year is out.
