WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said Monday it is expanding the use of independent safety expert groups when certifying commercial aircraft.
The FAA said it is expanding use of Technical Advisory Boards (TAB) to help ensure it has a “consistent and thorough approach for all aircraft certification projects.”
The FAA convened a TAB soon after the second Boeing 737 MAX crash in March 2019 to assist it in the review of the grounded airplane.
The FAA plans to establish the boards earlier in the certification process and use them on aircraft that are largely the same as current models that are typically referred to as derivative aircraft.
The FAA has a board in place for the certification review of the Boeing 777X.
The boards look at a number of issues including identifying new technologies or designs “that could be catastrophic if they failed,” the FAA said, and to determine “whether similar systems have caused problems on other aircraft” and to ensure the proper FAA offices were involved in the certification process.
(Reporting by David Shepardson)
