A multiagency task force has concluded the Federal Aviation Administration failed to properly review the anti-stall system of Boeing Co.’s 737 Max 8 jet involved in a pair of deadly crashes, multiple news outlets reported Friday.
Both Reuters and The New York Times obtained advance draft copies of the Joint Authorities Technical Review's findings, which also cited Boeing for failing to sufficiently explain its new automated safety system to regulators.
The JATR, an international panel of air safety regulators, is releasing its report following a six-month investigation – at the FAA’s request – into the agency’s role in clearing the stall-prevention system for Boeing’s top-selling plane prior to crashes in Ethiopia and Indonesia that killed a combined 346 people.
According to the 69-page report, the investigative team concluded the plane’s stall-prevention system, known as MCAS, “was not evaluated as a complete and integrated function in the certification documents that were submitted to the FAA.”
Citing the "lack of a unified top-down development and evaluation of the system function and its safety analyses" as well as "extensive and fragmented documentation," the report's authors found it "difficult to assess whether compliance was fully demonstrated," Reuters reported.
The report also criticized the FAA's long-standing practice of delegating "a high level" of certification tasks to manufacturers such as Boeing, Reuters reported.
“With adequate FAA engagement and oversight, the extent of delegation does not in itself compromise safety,” the report states. “However, in the B737 MAX program, the FAA had inadequate awareness of the MCAS function which, coupled with limited involvement, resulted in an inability of the FAA to provide an independent assessment of the adequacy of the Boeing proposed certification activities associated with MCAS.”
The FAA's administrator, Steve Dickson, said in a prepared statement he would "review every recommendation and take appropriate action, the Times reported.
The aircraft have been grounded worldwide since the March 10 crash of Ethiopian Air Flight 302 shortly after takeoff from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, killing 157 people. Fewer than five months earlier, Lion Air Flight 610 crashed – also shortly after takeoff – from Jakarta, Indonesia, killing 189 people.
According to the Times, Boeing is now updating the system to reduce its power and plans to install a modified version when the planes return to service.
For more detailed analysis of the JATR's findings, click here or here.
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