Boeing received permission to resume flight testing the B737Max in an effort to achieve FAA approval for the software fixes that have been designed and implemented in the aircraft to correct the issue that causes unstable conditions in flight and led to two aircraft accidents.
The flights began Monday, June 29, 2020 and the company hopes these flights will lead to getting these grounded aircraft back in the air. The FAA released a statement concerning the current B737 certification flights occurring this week:
The FAA and Boeing are conducting a series of certification flights this week to evaluate Boeing’s proposed changes to the automated flight control system on the 737 MAX. The aircraft departed from Boeing Field in Seattle at 9:55 a.m. today for the first round of testing. The flight is expected to take several hours.
The certification flights are expected to take approximately three days. They will include a wide array of flight maneuvers and emergency procedures to assess whether the changes meet FAA certification standards. The tests are being conducted by test pilots and engineers from the FAA and Boeing.
While the certification flights are an important milestone, a number of key tasks remain. The FAA is following a deliberate process and will take the time it needs to thoroughly review Boeing’s work. We will lift the grounding order only after we are satisfied that the aircraft meets certification standards.