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safety issues when an aircraft is being designed
and assembled, especially caused outrage.
Boeing is among the 79 companies that have
been approved under the ODA program to let
their employees work, while still being on their
payroll, as FAA designees to assess safety.
Amidst reports that the FAA intends to cede
further control of aviation safety to the industry,
lawmakers say they want to end the practice of
the regulatory agency outsourcing certification
tasks to manufacturers. American consumer
advocate Ralph Nader, whose grandniece
was killed in the Ethiopian Air crash, however,
doesn’t think FAA is likely to mend its ways,
given Boeing’s clout in the industry. “The FAA
has been in the pockets of the Boeing company
for years,” he says.
Although controversial, the self-inspection
program, which was created in 2005, has been
largely effective and has, according to Boeing,
led to the “safest transportation system in the
world.” The numbers support the point of view -
commercial aviation in the US had had a stellar
safety record over the last decade, with just
one passenger death since 2009. According
to supporters of the ODA, the program, reau-
thorized in 2018, helps fill a gap; the FAA would
need US$1.8 billion to hire an additional 10,000
inspectors otherwise. Among the detractors is
the Professional Aviation Safety Specialists, a
union representing FAA inspectors, which has
been vocal in opposing the expansion of the
ODA system.

Rift Out in the Open
By international agreement, planes are certified
in the country where they are built, and the deci- be looking at validating the work of the FAA and Boeing prior to
sion is rarely, if ever, questioned by regulatory us issuing our own validation approval,” said Nicholas Robinson,
bodies in other parts of the world. The crashes, Transport Canada’s director general of civil aviation. The Civil
however, has resulted in a rift between regu- Aviation Administration of China (CAAC), which has set up a task
latory agencies, with the FAA on one side and force to review design changes to the aircraft, says it would make
rest on the other. Industry experts believe that sure that every 737 MAX undergoes the necessary design changes
it is likely that the international regulators will and every pilot receives the necessary training before the fleet
not concurrently approve the airplane’s return returns to service. Indonesia is likely to ask EASA or Transport
to service; the jet is likely to resume flights in a Canada for a second opinion, according to Polana Pramesti, the
patchwork fashion, with FAA being the first to country’s director-general for air transport.
give the green signal. Once the airplane is approved for reentry into service, operators
The European Union Aviation Safety Agency will have to follow a few procedures, including installation of the
(EASA) has insisted on its own review of the new software and implementation of new pilot training. It would
design changes made to the aircraft before also have to run a series of maintenance checks on the jets that
approving its return to service. Flight trials by have been idle for months. The process, according to some, could
European test pilots have been scheduled for take more than a month.
mid-December. If the trials go smoothly, a deci-
sion on clearing the 737 Max is likely in January. Uneasy Road Ahead
Transport Canada has made it clear that it will Max 737 operators, who have had to cancel thousands of flights
do its own independent validation of the pro- since the aircraft was grounded, are aware that passengers would
posed changes to the troubled jet. “We have hesitate to fly on a 737 Max plane even when it is certified safe to
our own list of requirements that we sent to fly and reintroduced into service. According to a survey earlier this
the FAA at the onset of this, of areas we will year, about 41% of Americans said the plane would need to safely

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