Boeing Co is planning further changes to the software architecture of the 737 MAX flight-control system to address a flaw discovered after a test in June, earlier this year, according to a Reuters report.
The redesign, which was first reported by the Seattle Times, is said to involve using and receiving input from both flight control computers rather than one and is in response to a problem discovered during a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) simulator test. The FFA had clearly stated then that the new issue will have to addressed and resolved before the plane could be ungrounded.
According to sources, Boeing still plans to complete the software redesign to submit it to the FAA by end of September for approvals.
Boeing Chief Executive Dennis Muilenburg told analysts last month that he was confident the 737 Max would be back in service as early as October after a certification flight in “the September time frame.”
This software change is an addition to the already announced changes that will take input from both angle-of-attack sensors in the MCAS anti-stall system linked to two deadly crashes that led to a global grounding of the plane, including in Oman where the Public Authority for Civil Aviation suspended all Boeing 737 MAX aircraft operating into and out of the country’s airports until further notice.
Mohammad bin Nasser Al Zaabi, Executive President of the Public Authority for Civil Aviation, was quoted in Times of Oman saying that safety of people’s lives was their top priority and led them to take the decision, following the deadly Lion Air Flight 610 crash, which killed all 189 passengers and crew in October 2018 and the Ethiopian Airlines crash, which claimed the lives of all 157 people on board. The aircraft was a Boeing 737 MAX8.
