737Max grounding extended as probe expands to OLDER 737 models

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FORT WORTH, Texas—A review of Boeing Co.’s 737 MAX jets has expanded to include emergency procedures used by pilots on earlier 737 models, further delaying the MAX’s return to service, according to U.S. government officials. The Federal Aviation Administration hasn’t questioned the safety of older jets currently in service, these officials said, but the broadened review has become a significant factor in adding months to the time expected to get the grounded fleet of 737 MAX jets back in the air, they added.

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As part of the FAA’s safety analysis of a proposed software fix for the MAX fleet, these officials said, the agency also is considering changes in how pilots of the entire 737 family are trained to respond when the flight-control computer or other systems erroneously push the plane’s nose down. That includes the generation of the jetliner that preceded the MAX, known as the 737 NG—some 6,300 of which are used by more than 150 airlines globally and which form the backbone of short- and medium-range fleets for many carriers. The agency’s focus on revisiting the justifications for those procedures, has made the process of approving the fix to the 737 MAX more complex and time-consuming than Boeing and airline officials and the FAA initially anticipated, the officials said. “While we are working with the FAA to review all procedures, the safety of the 737 NG is not in question,” in light of “its 20-plus years of service and 200 million flight hours,” a Boeing spokesman said.

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The agency, according to the officials, is re-evaluating assumptions and safety assessments stretching back to the FAA’s initial approval of 737 NG models in the late 1990s, and in some cases versions that flew many years earlier. Unlike the MAX, the NG models do not include MCAS. Some previously-developed cockpit procedures are partly based on Boeing’s earlier assumptions that pilots would respond in just a few seconds, the officials said, and the FAA is evaluating how realistic that might be.

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