Originally Posted by
UltraFan
That's not how I read it. He expressly said: ..."we are not talking about six months; we are talking about a delay which, if it happens, will be due mostly to process or administrative technicalities."
To me it sounds like EASA (or at least Ky himself) have already decided to lift the ban even before the test flights. (Decided before the flights, not lift before the flights.) The very fact that he talks about timeframes is very strange, to say the least. While everyone, including the "domestic supporter" FAA, talks about serious unresolved issues, EASA suddenly starts talking about lifting the ban some time in the near future. I'll give him the benefit of the doubt but he should certainly issue a clarification about what he said vs. what he meant to say.
Ky's statements in that piece seem inconsistent and, taken as a whole, are rather vague. For instance:
If EASA concludes an extra fallback is still needed, Ky did not exclude making this a “synthetic” or computerized sensor capable of imitating a probe and sending calculated data to aircraft systems to supplement data from actual sensors.“This has never been done before but we are open to discussing all possible solutions with Boeing,” Ky said.
He did not rule out introducing a transitional period in which the plane could be cleared with reduced pilot overload. “If you have a new operational procedure which simplifies the workloads for pilots and enables you to arrive at an acceptable level …. this can be done for the return to service,” he said. “Now, is this level acceptable for a longer period than just the transitional period? That is something we need to assess.”
I don't read that as aligned with the earlier-quoted lines about anticipated RTS. And the notion of "a transitional period in which the plane could be cleared with reduced pilot overload" is just . . . odd.