Certification of Boeing’s 737 Max 10 will be delayed while the US Federal Aviation Administration investigates a software problem that could affect certain landing procedures, the agency’s administrator has said.
FAA administrator Bryan Bedford said the regulator had not yet determined whether the issue represented a safety risk, but would not approve the aircraft until its review was complete.
“We haven’t concluded whether this is a safety-of-flight issue or not, but we will be delaying the 10 … until we’re satisfied that we don’t have an issue here,” Mr Bedford said at a press conference in Washington DC.
The FAA said that “safety dictates the certification timeline” and that it was following its safety review process. The agency added that it “won’t hesitate to take action if needed”.
Boeing had expected approval for the years-delayed aircraft “very soon”, chief executive Kelly Ortberg told investors earlier this month. The company said it had flagged the software glitch last month on some 737 Max aircraft.
The problem could arise in a vertical navigation system after an aircraft misses an approach and has to go around before lining up to land again. Such a manoeuvre could be required if, for example, there was an obstruction on the runway.
Boeing and the FAA said pilots were trained for those circumstances. Mr Bedford said the pilots remained in control of the aircraft, but that the regulator was examining the effect of the problem on their workload.
“The pilots remain in control of the airliner, train for these scenarios,” he said. “The issue that we’re looking at right now is the workload component.”
Boeing said it had corrected an earlier fault in the system but had “unexpectedly … introduced a new bug”. The company said it was continuing to follow the FAA’s lead during the certification process.
Boeing shares fell by nearly 7% on Monday as investors assessed the latest setback for the aircraft, which was originally due to begin deliveries in 2020. The 737 Max 10 is the last model in the Max family still awaiting certification.
The FAA certified the smallest model, the Max 7, last month. That aircraft uses the most up-to-date version of the software under review, although US airlines said they did not have Max aircraft affected by the issue and could revert to older software if necessary.
The latest delay comes after years of safety problems involving the Max family, including two crashes of the Max 8 in 2018 and 2019. Mr Bedford said the software issue under examination differed from the flight-control system implicated in those crashes because it “doesn’t take control away from the pilots”.
