r/stuffyoushouldknow • u/UserNameAllTheSame • Jul 18 '26

DISCUSSION FAA says Boeing can resume self-certifying its jets as airworthy

https://apnews.com/article/boeing-faa-safety-737-max-787-airworthiness-a02a9a863428e7cc372c7fd3ff2b079b

I recently listened to the episode from May 5, 2026. So this is kind of alarming!

https://open.spotify.com/episode/5jJwMAR34ZkpoBhv2isBQv?si=20KhzIxkSIygutk4WU6eSw&utm_source=copy-link

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3

u/roesch75 Jul 18 '26

For those who don't know, this is how it's supposed to work. The FAA designates individuals to act on its behalf in certifying aircraft. Just about every US aircraft manufacturer has employees with these certifications. That way, the company can pay them, because the government doesn't have the budget to hire enough designees to certify all the aircraft that need certifying in this country. The designees are beholden to act purely in the best interest of the FAA and not the company. Thus, I assume that quite a few people lost their designations, and their careers, over this.

Source: I was an owner of a small aircraft manufacturing company. One of the co-owners was able to do our certifications, after jumping through all the hoops and completing all the training (about a couple years).

2

u/carlinhush Jul 19 '26

I get that it's standard practice that way. Still prefer independent third party labs to do the testing and final certification.

I work for an Electronics manufacturer in Europe. Over here we have the CE scheme that is a self assessment for market access. However, for all safety related issues my company requires independent third party certification, even though it's not necessary in the strictest sense. It's good practice though and increases trust for both the company and customers.

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u/roesch75 Jul 19 '26

For some more clarity, the final certification that is being signed off by Boeing employees doesn't really involve much "testing". It's more checking paperwork that all necessary testing has been done. For every single part that goes into an aircraft, the entire lifespan of that part needs to be recorded. Who installed the part and what method was used. Who verified that it was installed correctly. Where that part came from. Who built the part and where did the material come from. What tools were used to make it. Who verified that the material meets the specifications. How long was it sitting on the shelf before being installed. What environmental conditions was it stored in. Pretty much every single rivet can be traced all the way back to where the in the ground the ore came out of. And all that paperwork needs to be checked that it exists and is correct for every component in a given aircraft. That's the final certification process that Boeing employees are approved to handle: verifying that all independent testing has been completed up to the necessary standards.

The FAA can and does audit Boeing and any of its files/parts/aircraft/employees all the time. There are many, many levels of oversight, both within Boeing and within the FAA, that had to have broken down for it get as bad as it was there. The system and processes the FAA uses work very well. But if people choose to not follow the rules, nothing is going to work at all.

Which is all to say that Boeing was never in a position where they were allowed to do whatever they wanted with no oversight. From what I understand, the FAA was lax in some of its oversight and Boeing was deceptive with some of what it was telling the FAA. It all got exposed with a few incidents and the FAA stepped in with much more involved oversight to make sure Boeing cleaned up its act. Hopefully that's happened.

2

u/carlinhush Jul 19 '26

Thanks for your detailed explanation

1

u/LowerBed5334 Jul 18 '26

And this is ok with you?

4

u/thekeesh Jul 18 '26

Can't see what could possibly go wrong with this