Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Administrator Steve Dickson said there is still some work to be done before the Boeing 737Max is cleared to return to flight, but added that he was satisfied with what he saw.
Dickson made the comments Wednesday (Sept. 30) after maneuvering the Boeing 737Max on a two-hour evaluation flight.
In a video press conference, Dixon said, “We still have some work to do. I think my flight today and the training I’ve received gives me a good foundation as a pilot to understand these systems and understand how to use them.”
Dixon had previously pledged that he would not authorize a return flight until he had flown the aircraft himself and was convinced of its safety. Two Boeing 737Max crashed over a five-month period, killing 346 people.
In both crashes, a flaw in the control system, known as MCAS, triggered faulty data from an airflow sensor that repeatedly and forcefully depressed the nose while the pilot struggled to intervene.
Regulators then ordered all Boeing 737Max grounded in March 2019, and Boeing has been trying to get flight certification for this type of aircraft regained.
Chief Dixon has worked as a military and commercial pilot. Earlier Wednesday, he took off with other FAA and Boeing pilots from King County International Airport, known as “Boeing Field” in the Seattle area.
During the flight, he tested several design and operational upgrades that Boeing has made to prevent the release of similar airplane crashes.
Meanwhile, the U.S. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee on Wednesday passed without objection a bill with bipartisan support to reform the FAA’s aircraft certification process in the wake of the Boeing 737Max crash.
Dixon responded, “Congress is interested in improving aviation safety, and what I and the FAA, what we do is continually improve.”
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