Originally Posted by
DaveReidUK
AFAIK, the FAA has not yet determined whether the relevant actuators need to be swapped out.
While it's not a formal a NTSB recommendation in AIR 24-06 of Sept 26, I think that's more a nuance on "who does what when". As you say, it's the FAA who would make that decision, hence the 1st NTSB Recommendation to the FAA to make that determination one way or another. But it looks like this is all to do with "admin processes" working their way through rather than no decision being made and that things are actually a bit further advanced.
Looking back on Page 6 of AIR 24-06, it says "................, the multi-operator message (Multi Operator Message MOM-MOM-24-0442-01B issued by Boeing on August 23, 2024) stated that, to reduce “any unnecessary risk” in the 737 fleet, Boeing would develop a plan to remove the affected actuator units from the fleet and replace them with conforming units, which Collins would provide. Boeing indicated that its plan and the associated timeline would be shared when available with 737 operators.".
So, I suspect that the FAA will simply await Boeing's plan to swap the affected units out and then issue a directive once they agree the plan along the lines of "All operators of a/c so affected are to implement Boeing Plan X-Y-Z within blah-blah-blah flight hours/days." or similar thereby formally sharing Boeing's plan which Collins, in practical terms, can actually support by supplying new actuators to meet the plan.
Well, that's how I see it right now......
Of course, there's the interim solution (Warnings to aircrew etc, etc, etc) which will cover the gap between now and Plan X-Y-Z.