FAA has posted the draft of revised Boeing 737 minimum training standards that incorporate the MAX’s maneuvering characteristics augmentation system (MCAS) for a third public comment period.
The new comment deadline is May 15.
The draft Flight Standardization Board (FSB) report does not recommend simulator training for the MCAS or its failure modes, sticking to recommendations made by a board that reviewed Boeing’s proposed updates to the system in March.
MAX training “must include” the MCAS in a list of “special emphasis areas” covered in ground training, the report stated. “MCAS ground training must address system description, functionality, associated failure conditions and flight crew alerting. These items must be included in initial, upgrade, transition, differences and recurrent training,” it added. It would be Level B, or computer-based, training.
The FSB report, which covers all versions of the 737 since the family is on a single type certificate, is in its 17th revision. Finalizing the standards is one of the final key steps to getting the 737’s operations bans removed by regulators. The most recent FSB comment deadline was at the end of April—a date that was extended when some pilot groups said they were not given adequate notice to comment on the proposals.
It was not immediately clear why FAA put the draft out for additional review. “The FAA may further amend revision 17,” FAA said in a note on its website. “If so, it will be posted for another comment period.”
Boeing is modifying the MCAS software and training based on preliminary findings in two 737 MAX 8 accidents in five months in which pilots did not manage an MCAS-related failure mode.
While the FAA-approved training may not include simulator time, at least some other regulators are expected to mandate it on top of the minimum standards.
Source:ATW
