First impression of the agreement for deferral of Synthetic Airspeed addition is that it tends to unwind some, at least, of the Gordian knot that the MAX has become, compared with the more typical processes of approvals by air safety regulators.
Still it will be very interesting to see what the other participants in this process, or should it be the various constituents of participants - have to say about this reported agreement, assuming it bears out as fact. Color me skeptical that the Dep't of Transportation Inspector General (and Office of General Counsel), both of which were pretty acerbic in their initial reports on the regulatory debacle, will find this agreement a bright spot (despite it appearing to be a case of necessity mothering invention). And what will the FSB (Flight Standards Board) and JOEB (Joint Operations Evaluation Board) have to say? - although perhaps JOEB blessed this or is known by inside players to be very likely to bless it??
I'm not reaching what the legislation-writing committees on Capitol Hill, who are ginning up various measures to address the certification process, will make of this deferral agreement. But I will say that a contact of which I am aware, which was made to the attorneys conducting the FOIA lawsuit against FAA and which offered meaningful assistance for coordinating, with other MAX litigation, the "shadow FAA" effort which the FOIA lawsuit is supposed to enable, met with studied non-response. I'm told the contact, made to attorneys at the FOIA plaintiffs' law firm who were general counsel to the national committee of one of the two major political parties, came from a person more associated with the other major party. Maybe the FOIA lawsuit has produced so little timely response by FAA (probably in large part due to Boeing assertion of proprietary privilege on many documents) that any chance for the crew assembled by the plaintiffs, which is headlined by Capt. Sully, to speak to the issues before hard decisions are taken. In any event, it also would be most interesting to know what this crew (the expert panel assembled by the FOIA lawsuit plaintiffs) think of this deferral arrangement.
Not least, one wishes a lot fewer lawyers, and a lot more aeronautical engineers -- oh, and pro pilots -- were involved in all this.
Last edited by WillowRun 6-3; 8th Sep 2020 at 13:39.