US FAA must restore 'public confidence' in plane certification - inspector general

The FAA must work to restore “public confidence” in aircraft certification efforts after 2 Boeing 737 MAX crashes, the US DoT’s inspector general said Wednesday in a public report. The long-standing practice of delegating certification tasks to aircraft manufacturers has come under criticism from lawmakers and others after the 2 crashes in Oct 2018 in Indonesia and March 2019 in Ethiopia. The report said the FAA faces a “significant oversight challenge” to ensure that companies conducting those tasks “maintain high standards and comply with FAA safety regulations.” The report said that by March 2020, the FAA plans to introduce “a new process that represents a significant change in its approach to overseeing” aircraft designation efforts. <br/>