Looks like the rest of the world is pretty peeved at both Boeing and the FAA. The Seattle Times is keeping close track of the story as new developments come out. The front page article today is:
World’s regulators blast Boeing and FAA in report on 737 Max design, approval
A report created by an international panel of air-safety regulators convened by the FAA released a “damning” report yesterday that criticizes both Boeing and the FAA for their assessment and approval of the 737 MAX flight control system. The panel also questioned how:
...systems on the MAX were certified as derivative of a now-50-year-old aircraft design
The report also brought up the issue covered in an earlier diary back on 10/2 (see the update) about airplane-safety systems not keeping up with the “new reality of increased cockpit automation” by reducing reliance on the crew and designing protection/fail-safe modes in as part of the automation.
They hit a lot of key points brought up in earlier Seattle Times articles — near complete delegation of approval to Boeing, lack of communication to the FAA about the changes that made the MCAS more “aggressive”, canning the excess delegation of approval authority to Boeing (as a result of the MCAS fiasco), lack of details on the changes even after the second crash, the cascade of failures and alarms causing crew distraction, lack of training in the actual MCAS operations as implemented, etc.
One significant recommendation that could cause more delay is a request (more like a demand IMHO) for more testing of the MAX with and without the MCAS system enabled. Boeing claims they’ve done that testing to their satisfaction. The FAA and other regulatory agencies are planning to conduct their own reviews, and Boeing (and the FAA) had better hope nothing else adverse turns up.