A Boeing 777X takes off for the first time at Paine Field on January 25, 2020 in Everett, Washington.
Stephen Brashear
The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) told Boeing that the planned 777X was not yet ready for a critical certification phase, and warned that it would “factly” not certify the plane until the middle of the year. 2023
The FAA, in a letter to Boeing on May 1
3 seen by Reuters, cited multiple issues in refusing requests from manufacturers to issue Type Inspection Authorization (TIA) readiness, “The aircraft is not yet ready for TIA. The FAA wrote in refusing to approve “a gradual, limited-edition TIA with a small number of approved flight test plans.”The letter, which has never been made public before. Addresses many concerns about a lack of data and a lack of initial safety assessments for the FAA to review.
“The FAA will not approve any aircraft unless it meets our safety standards and certifications,” the agency said in a statement on Sunday.
Boeing has been developing wide-body aircraft, a new version of the popular 777, since 2013 and at one point expected it to be available for airlines in 2020.
A Boeing spokeswoman said on Sunday the company “continues to place safety as our top priority throughout the development of the 777X as we put the aircraft into a comprehensive testing program to demonstrate its safety and reliability.” trust We are working through a rigorous development process to ensure that We comply with all applicable requirements.”
The 777X will be the first major jet to be certified. Due to software glitches in two Boeing 737 MAX planes, fatal collisions occurred. and prompted allegations of a good relationship between the company and the FAA.
European regulators have specifically said they will bring the 777X to further investigation after the crash that left the 737 MAX to a halt for 20 months.
MAX plane crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia killed 346 people over five months in 2018 and 2019.
The letter mentions a number of issues that still need to be addressed, including “an upcoming major software update with the flight control software loading… The FAA understands that there is a large list of critical issues reported to be addressed by that version. Load the software Includes software fixes for the unannounced pitch incident that occurred on December 8, 2020.”
The agency added that “The software loading date is shifting and the FAA needs better visibility into the cause of the delay.”
It said, “After the out-of-order pitch incident, the FAA has yet to see how Boeing implemented all the corrective actions identified by investigating the root cause.”
The agency said it wanted Boeing. “Use a robust process so that similar escapes do not occur in the future and this is not a systematic problem.”
The FAA said on the date of endorsement of the letter for the 777X, “actually it will be mid to late 2023 (> 2 years from now)”.
Boeing Chief Executive Dave Calhoun said earlier this month: “We are still confident” that it will be certified in the fourth quarter of 2023.
The letter was previously reported by the Seattle Times.
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