US aircraft manufacturer Boeing has been forced to make revisions after regulators overseeing changes to the ill-fated B737 MAX aircraft rejected an audit of how the software was being developed, according to a person familiar with the action.
The issue with Boeing's audit was raised at a meeting in a Collins Aerospace Systems facility in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, attended by officials from the US Federal Aviation Administration (F) and the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), Bloomberg reported.
Boeing and Collins, a division of United Technologies Corp that developed computer automation on the B737 MAX, are making amendments to a safety feature on the aircraft that was involved in two separate crashes that claimed the lives of 346 people. As a result of testing in recent months, Boeing is also undertaking a more complex revision of how the flight computers on the plane function.
Depending on how long it takes to satisfy the F and EASA, it could postpone a certification flight test and regulators' final decision on withdrawing the flight ban by a few days or even weeks, said the unidentified source.
Boeing said in a statement that it has provided technical documents to regulators 'in a format consistent with past submissions'.
'Regulators have requested that the information be conveyed in a different form, and the documentation is being revised accordingly,' according to the statement. 'While this happens, we continue to work with the F and global regulators on certification of the software for safe return of the MAX to service.'
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The issue with Boeing's audit was raised at a meeting in a Collins Aerospace Systems facility in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, attended by officials from the US Federal Aviation Administration (F) and the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), Bloomberg reported.
Boeing and Collins, a division of United Technologies Corp that developed computer automation on the B737 MAX, are making amendments to a safety feature on the aircraft that was involved in two separate crashes that claimed the lives of 346 people. As a result of testing in recent months, Boeing is also undertaking a more complex revision of how the flight computers on the plane function.
Depending on how long it takes to satisfy the F and EASA, it could postpone a certification flight test and regulators' final decision on withdrawing the flight ban by a few days or even weeks, said the unidentified source.
Boeing said in a statement that it has provided technical documents to regulators 'in a format consistent with past submissions'.
'Regulators have requested that the information be conveyed in a different form, and the documentation is being revised accordingly,' according to the statement. 'While this happens, we continue to work with the F and global regulators on certification of the software for safe return of the MAX to service.'
WORLD SHIPPING