Hmm.
It's good to see that the FAA is happy that the 737 Max will soon be fit to fly. However a few thoughts occurred to me.
1) Will other aviation regulators such as the CAA trust the work done by Boeing and the FAA?
2) Will there be any demand for these aircraft, given the slump in flights due to the corona virus pandemic?
3) Will the airlines give the paying customer the choice of risking a flight in an aircraft with such a tainted reputation?
My answers are:
1) Maybe, if the FAA and Boeing are completely transparent on the steps being taken to put right all the faults and design choices that led to the crashes.
2) Probably not in the short term. Airlines have a big enough job trying to coax passengers back given the impositions of mandatory quarantine on a lot of tourist destinations.
3) Not a chance in hell. Firstly, it would definitely put people off, me included, if they were told that they were going to be flying on such a problem riddled design and secondly the logistics of actually informing people would be difficult and probably impossible.
So, to sum up it looks like we are going to have to trust that this time Boeing has got it right and that the FAA has actually done its job and made sure that this aircraft really is safe to fly.
We shall see but I for one will not be volunteering to act as a crash test dummy for the foreseeable future.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
