The Boeing 737 Max crisis
Texas. ’ 86 Although it seems like the FAA is responsible for approving the ATC request for the B737 MAX aircraft, from the official’s tone and description, they are giving the public the impress ion that they had been ‘deceived’ and ‘misled’ by Boeing’s employees. ‘ Because of his alleged deceit, the FAA AEG deleted all reference to MCAS from the final version of the 737 MAX FSB Report published in July 2017. As a result, pilots flying the 737 MAX for Boeing’s U.S. -based airline customers were not provided any information about MCAS in their manuals and training materials. ’ 87 However, this certainly does not mean FAA bears no responsibility at all. In 2019, after the crash of ET302, The Office of Special Counsel (OSC) received information from whistle-blowers, finding out that out of the 22 Aviation Safety Inspectors (ASI) identified in the complaint, 16 of them had not completed any required formal training classes, and 3 of these 16 ASIs served on the B737 MAX Flight Standardization Board (FSB). 88 If these accusations are true, it would be safe to suggest that there have been severe problems with FAA’s culture. As one of the world’s major aviation authorities, it is necessary to follow rules set by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). ‘ States shall establish a State safety programme in order to achieve an acceptable level of safety in civil aviation. ’ 89 It is clear that FAA has failed to achieve this outline stated in ICAO Annexe 8. In 2005, the FAA established the Organization Designation Authorization (ODA), which ‘ expands the scope of approved tasks available to organizational designees ’ , 90 essentially meaning that ‘ the FAA lacks the technical firepower to directly inspect every st age of getting a new aircraft in the air […] the manufacturers’ engineers are delegated to review the design, plan and observe tests, certifying that they meet applicable standards. ’ 91 Manufacturers like Boeing have since then granted more power to almost certify their own aircraft. During my research, I conducted an interview with a renowned air transport experimental test pilot who would like to remain anonymous. He suggested that ‘ they (the FAA) should always have remained independent. Due to budget constraints and lack of personnel, this has not been the case here. ’ 92 In another interview with Captain Denys Davydov (better known as Pilot Blog on YouTube, with more than 638,000 subscribers and have accumulated a total of 224,770,239 video views), 93 who is currently a B737NG captain for the Ukraine International Airlines (UIA), he stated that he thinks the world currently needs more global control from ICAO, not just local/regional authorities like FAA. 94 Another expert in aviation safety, Colin Everard, who worked in the field of aviation projects aimed at improving 86 U.S. At torney’s Office, Northern District of Texas 2021, Former Boeing 737 MAX Chief Technical Pilot Indicted for Fraud . 87 U.S. Attorney’s Office, Northern District of Texas 2021, Former Boeing 737 MAX Chief Technical Pilot Indicted for Fraud . 88 Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, & Transportation 2020, Committee Investigation Report: Aviation Safety Oversight : 28 . 89 International Civil Aviation Organization, Annex 8 to the Convention of International Civil Aviation: Airworthiness of Aircraft : II-5-1. 90 Federal Aviation Administration 2005, Establishment of Organization Designation Authorization Program : 2. 91 Song 2013, FAA faulted for outsourcing 787 safety checks to Boeing .
92 Anonymous 2022, Interview by Matthew Wu . 93 Social Blade 2022, Pilot Blog: User Summary . 94 Davydov 2022, Email Questionnaire with Captain Denys Davydov by Matthew Wu .
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