Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Administrator Stephen M. Dickson recently noted the Boeing 737 MAX would only return to service following completion of a comprehensive and rigorous review process.
Dickson offered the declaration during testimony before the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation and the families of the victims of the Ethiopian Airlines and Lion Air accidents.
“As we have stated many times in the past, safety is the driving consideration in this process,” Dickson said, pledging he would fly the aircraft himself and be satisfied he would put his family aboard without a second thought before the grounding order is lifted. “This process is not guided by a calendar or schedule.”
Before the aircraft returns to the skies, the FAA must sign off on all technical reviews of Boeing’s proposed safety enhancements, with Dickson stating the agency fully controls the approval process for the 737 MAX flight-control systems and is not delegating that authority to Boeing.
The FAA will also retain the authority to issue airworthiness certificates and export certificates of airworthiness for all new 737 MAX airplanes manufactured since the grounding, authorities indicated, adding pilots will have received all of the training they need to safely operate the aircraft before it returns.