Federal safety regulators indicated Tuesday that they will keep full control over approvals of each new Boeing 737 Max built since the planes were grounded in March, rather than delegating some of the work to Boeing employees. The Federal Aviation Administration said it told Boeing on Tuesday that the agency will retain all authority to issue safety certificates for newly manufactured Max planes. Boeing hasn’t stopped producing the Max, although it slowed down the assembly line in April. The FAA’s announcement doesn’t cover planes that were approved before the Max was grounded following two crashes that killed 346 people.
It is the latest move by the FAA to show its independence from Boeing. Lawmakers have accused the FAA of surrendering too much authority to the aircraft manufacturer in certifying the Max. Senior FAA officials appeared to know little about a new flight-control system on the plane, which played a role in crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia. The FAA relied on analysis and testing by Boeing employees, whose work was supposed to be overseen by federal inspectors.
