A meeting of aviation safety agencies from more than 30
countries was "exceedingly positive" and "exceedingly
constructive," said acting FAA administrator Dan Elwell on Thursday.
But he repeated earlier assertions that no timetable has
been set for the return of the grounded Boeing 737 Max to U.S. skies.
The FAA came under fire for being the last aviation safety
regulator in the world (along with NavCanada) to ground the 737 Max after the
March 10 crash of an Ethiopian Airlines Max 8. That crash followed the October
crash of a Lion Air Max 8. A combined 346 people died in the two incidents.
The FAA's close relationship with Boeing is also under
scrutiny. That relationship, as well as the FAA's certification process for the
Max 8, are the subject of investigations by both Congress and the DOT's
inspector general.
On Thursday, Elwell repeated his defense of the process used
by the FAA in deciding to ground the Max 8, saying that the FAA waited until it
had solid data that there were commonalities in the Lion Air and Ethiopian
crashes.
"We don't make safety decisions on our gut. We don't do
that. We're data-driven," he said.
Ongoing investigations into both crashes suggest that they
were at least in part caused by erroneous information transmitted from an
aircraft sensor to the automated flight-control system, which caused the planes
to nosedive.
To resolve the issue, Boeing has completed a software update
and has recommended alterations to pilot-training procedures for Max aircraft.
However, the company has not yet submitted a finalized recertification
application.
Elwell said that once Boeing does so, the FAA will carefully
review the application and conduct a test-flight program. He said the agency
has not yet decided whether it will require pilots to undergo 737 Max flight
simulator training, a step that would likely lengthen the Max grounding, but
the FAA's preliminary conclusion is that such training won't be needed.
Southwest and American, which have the largest Max fleets
among U.S. airlines, have removed the aircraft from their schedules until Aug.
6 and Aug. 20, respectively.
Elwell said that the safety regulators from around the world
who attended Thursday's meeting left with an "enthusiastic agreement to
continue dialogue."
"We will continue to be transparent and exchange all
that we know and all that we're doing to strengthen the public confidence,"
he said.