Originally Posted by
grizzled
quagmire (post #1364):
Excellent contribution to this discussion -- and your last para sums up a rather large issue: If two of the (supposed) most respected and capable organizations in civil aviation today (Boeing and the FAA) aren't doing thorough or appropriate risk assessments, what the heck has happened to our industry?
Thanks. ... About the Fault Tree Analysis (FTA) & Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (FMEA), from what I saw in the industry, the avionics company, with oversight from the airframe maker, did the FTA & FMEA, and the FAA reviewed what it was at certification time. The Designated Engineering Representative (DER) at the avionics company gets their salary & pension from their own company, so has no interest in "causing trouble" by defying anything the avionics company and airframe maker wants.
I don't know how to solve this beyond actually having the FAA take a more active role. There were some comments above about Boeing effectively self-certifying the new versions of the 737, since Boeing is very powerful in this game. That could be the root cause of a bad FTA/FMEA getting through. Avionics companies & Boeing here don't like to admit there is anything wrong, until forced to.