FAA Starts Test Flights for Boeing 737 Max

The Federal Aviation Administration has begun flight tests on the Boeing 737 Max, the first of several certification tests that the aircraft must pass following its grounding last year after a series of crashes.

“The FAA and Boeing are conducting a series of certification flights this week to evaluate Boeing’s proposed changes to the automated flight control system on the 737 MAX,” the aviation regulator said in a statement on Monday.

“The certification flights are expected to take approximately three days,” the statement continued. “They will include a wide array of flight maneuvers and emergency procedures to assess whether the changes meet FAA certification standards. The tests are being conducted by test pilots and engineers from the FAA and Boeing.”

Boeing’s stock rose more than 14% following news that the first of these test flights of the company’s best-selling commercial jet of all time took place on Monday, the same day that Norwegian Air Shuttle announced that it was canceling its order for 97 Boeing jets, 92 of which were 737 Max planes, according to NPR.

Flight regulators across the globe grounded the 737 Max last year after two deadly crashes killed hundreds of people in just over four months. 157 people died when Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 crashed just after takeoff on March 10, 2019, and 189 people died when Lion Air Flight 610 crashed on October 29, 2018. Both of these crashes were linked primarily to a faulty flight control system that caused planes to dive uncontrollably.

“While the certification flights are an important milestone, a number of key tasks remain,” the FAA statement concludes, noting that it “is following a deliberate process and will take the time it needs to thoroughly review Boeing’s work. We will lift the grounding order only after we are satisfied that the aircraft meets certification standards.”

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