[ad_1]
A Boeing 777X takes off during its first test flight from the company’s factory in Everett, Washington, US, January 25, 2020. REUTERS/Terray Sylvester
June 27 (Reuters) – The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has told Boeing (BA.N) that the planned 777X is not yet ready for a significant certification step and warned that it would not “realistically” certify the plane until midday. until late 2023.
In a May 13 letter to Boeing seen by Reuters, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) cited a number of problems in refusing a manufacturer’s request for a Type Inspection Inspection (TIA) readiness authorization. The FAA wrote that “the aircraft is not yet ready for TIA,” and refused to approve “a staged, limited-range TIA with a small number of validated flight test plans.”
The letter, which has not been previously made public, cites several concerns about a lack of data and the lack of an initial safety assessment for the FAA’s review.
“The FAA will not approve any aircraft unless it meets our safety and certification standards,” the agency said in a statement Sunday.
Boeing has been developing the wide-body plane, a new version of its popular 777, since 2013 and is expected to be launched for airline use in 2020.
A Boeing spokeswoman said Sunday that the company “remains fully focused on safety as our top priority during the development of the 777X. As we undergo an extensive testing program to demonstrate its safety and reliability, we are working through a rigorous development process to ensure we meet all applicable requirements.” .
The 777X will be the first major airliner to be certified because software flaws on two Boeing 737 Max planes have caused fatal accidents and sparked accusations of intimate relations between the company and the Federal Aviation Administration.
In particular, European regulators said they would subject the 777X to more scrutiny after fatal accidents led to a 20-month suspension of the 737 Max.
MAX plane crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia killed 346 people in five months in 2018 and 2019.
The letter cites a number of issues that still need to be addressed, including “a major software update is coming with the flight control software loaded… The FAA understands that there are several important issue report items that will be addressed by this release.” Download the software, including a software fix for the no-order stadium event of December 8, 2020.
“Software load times are constantly fluctuating and the FAA needs to get better insight into the reasons for the delays,” the agency added.
“Following the no-order pitch event, the FAA has not yet seen how Boeing has fully implemented all of the corrective actions identified by the root cause investigation,” she said.
The agency said it wanted Boeing “to implement a robust process so that similar escapes do not occur in the future and this is not a systematic issue.”
The FAA said on the date of its certification letter for the 777X that it “will actually be mid to late 2023 (>two years from now).”
Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun said earlier this month that “we remain confident” of its adoption in the fourth quarter of 2023.
The message was previously reported by The Seattle Times.
David Shepardson News. Editing by Lisa Schumaker
Our Standards: Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
.
[ad_2]
Picture Credit!