Boeing started test flights of its 737 Max jet on Monday. The Federal Aviation Administration told Congress over the weekend that it's given the go-ahead for its own pilots to test out the model for certification purposes. Aviation authorities around the world grounded the 737 MAX in March 2019, following two crashes involving 737 Max 8 aircraft that left 346 people dead. Investigators believe issues with the model's automatic stall prevention system may have led to both accidents. Boeing's been working on a software update to fix that. But its recertification was slowed down as other technical problems were discovered during the jet's modification. The test flights will take place over multiple days. And the FAA cautioned lawmakers that those flights are just one step in its clearance process. Among other things, the agency still needs to approve Boeing's pilot-training program. Clearance from regulators in Europe and Canada will also be required.
Officials believe a stall-prevention feature automatically activated before the planes went down — this according to a new report out Friday. Anonymous sources told investigators that the Manoeuvring Characteristics Augmentation System, otherwise known as the MCAS, misfired right before the deadly crashes. The MCAS pulls the plane's nose down automatically if data says the nose's angle is too high. But if the sensor is wrong, the MCAS would force the nose of the plane down anyway — leading to a nosedive. The Journal says these preliminary findings are the first based on data from the plane's black boxes, and the information is subject to change. But it's even more evidence that the MCAS misfired in both the Ethiopian Airlines crash and a Lion Air crash last year.
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