The Federal Aviation Administration and Boeing today completed three days’ worth of certification flight tests on the Boeing 737 MAX, but it’ll take weeks longer for the FAA to review the fixes that Boeing made and decide whether to end the yearlong grounding of the planes.

  • Hundreds of 737 MAX planes across the globe have been grounded since March 2019, in the wake of two catastrophic crashes that killed 346 people in all. Investigators blamed the accidents on an automated flight control system that didn’t work as intended and sent the planes into steep dives shortly after takeoff.
  • Boeing added safeguards to the control system and made other fixes that were brought to light during the investigation. This week, FAA pilots and engineers evaluated Boeing’s changes during a series of flights based out of Seattle’s Boeing Field.
  • In an update posted online, the FAA said it will analyze the data gathered during the flights, review Boeing’s documentation and training procedures, and issue a series of reports. “We will lift the grounding order only after FAA safety experts are satisfied that the aircraft meets certification standards,” the agency said.
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