Certification experts with Transport Canada know of an “unacceptable failure” in the updated flight control computer on the Boeing 737 MAX 8, and they’re looking into how this will affect the ministry’s “ongoing validation efforts,” a statement said Thursday.
The statement came one day after reports emerged that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) had found a new risk in the grounded planes that has to be addressed before they can fly again.
Transport Canada said this discovery delays the timeline for the plane’s return to service.
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The FAA found the failure during a simulation that happened last week. The simulation involved numerous scenarios that were intended to activate the plane’s MCAS stall-prevention system.
It took some time to recover the stabilizer trim system during one of those activations, people briefed on the matter told Reuters.
Boeing expects that the issue can be tackled with a software update.
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But it will now be July 8 before Boeing can carry out another certification test flight on the plane — this, after the FAA expected that the plane might be approved for flight in late June.
Now, the FAA expects to spend as many as three weeks reviewing the results of the test before they decide whether to put the MAX 8 back in the sky.
“It’s not known how long it will be before the MAX 8 will be allowed to fly again,” Transport Canada said in its statement.
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The ministry said it’s working with agencies such as the FAA, the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and the National Civil Aviation Agency of Brazil (ANAC) toward “final approval of certification and validation.”
In the meantime, the Boeing 737 MAX 8 will remain grounded until the agency is “satisfied that all concerns have been addressed,” and “adequate flight crew procedures and training are in place.”
WestJet has the MAX 8 off its schedule until Aug. 29, Air Canada until Sept. 2.
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- With files from Reuters
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