January 18th local time, the official website of Transport Canada issued an airworthiness directive for the Boeing 737MAX, outlining the necessary modifications to the aircraft before the aircraft can resume service in Canadian airspace.
Transport Canada said that the Canadian government will continue to work to ensure the safety of Canadian citizens, the traveling public and the transportation system.
As part of Transport Canada’s independent audit process, the agency’s civil aviation certification and flight safety specialists play an important role in guiding aircraft design changes. In addition, the agency further improved aircraft safety by introducing unique Canadian initiatives.
Transport Canada said that in addition to all the audits, in order to further ensure that all measures are in place, it has issued an interim order to operators, which clearly indicates the expectations and requirements of Transport Canada for additional training of crew members, which is also issued airworthiness directives to them.
As the final step of the process, Transport Canada will lift the current flight ban, which prohibits Boeing 737MAX from operating commercially in Canadian airspace until January 20, 2021, which directly means that Boeing 737MAX will resume service in Canada.
Transport Canada said that the agency has spent more than 15,000 hours in auditing the Boeing 737 MAX.
At the same time, the review shows that Canada plays an important leading role in the whole project, helping to reshape many previous decisions made by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). This also led Transport Canada to issue its own specific airworthiness directive instead of adopting the FAA airworthiness directive.
In addition, throughout the independent audit process, Transport Canada has cooperated extensively with the FAA and other major certification agencies, including the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), the Brazilian National Civil Aviation Authority (ANAC) and the Canadian Airways, Aircrew and Trade Union Association.
Transport Canada said that through the above cooperation, the agency has confirmed that the Canadian operator is taking the necessary measures and will prepare to resume the commercial services of the aircraft in the next few days and weeks.
In addition, Air Canada operators have cooperated to develop a new training plan.
From October 2018 to March 2019, Boeing 737 MAX series aircraft suffered two crashes in five months, causing 346 deaths.
Both air crashes were related to the wrong activation of automatic stall software on the aircraft. The plane was subsequently grounded worldwide.
In December 2019, Boeing announced that Boeing would suspend production of the 737 MAX from January 2020 because the certification of 737 MAX aircraft will be extended until 2020.
On May 27, 2020, Boeing announced that it had resumed production of the 737 MAX at a lower production rate at its Renton plant in Washington, United States.
On June 29, 2020, after reviewing the manufacturer’s proposed modification to improve safety, the FAA approved the start of Boeing 737 MAX test flights, which meant that regulators finally endorsed the Boeing 737 MAX aircraft safety improvement proposal.
In July 2020, the FAA said it had completed a certified test flight of the 737 MAX with Boeing, which was a key milestone for the aircraft to be re-entered service.
On November 18, 2020, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced on its official website that it approved the Boeing 737 MAX to resume.
On 24 November 2020, the European aviation regulator granted a draft approval for the Boeing 737 MAX, which would pave the way for the aircraft to officially return to the European region in January 2021.
On November 25, 2020, the Brazilian Civil Aviation Authority approved the Boeing 737 MAX to resume.
Later, on December 9, 2020, local time, a Boeing 737MAX of Brazilian Gol Airlines landed at Salgado Filho Airport in Porto Alegre, Brazil, becoming the first airline in the world to resume using the model on commercial routes.
So far, the Civil Aviation Administration of China has expressed its position on whether the 737 MAX will be re-flyed.
There is no timetable for the re-flight of the aircraft, and the previous three principles remain unchanged: the aircraft’s design changes must be approved for airworthiness; the pilot must be fully and effectively trained; and the findings of the two accidents must be It must be clear and the improvement measures are effective.
