The SA Civil Aviation Authority will follow the US Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) lead, and will clear the Boeing 737 MAX aircraft to return to South African skies, subject to compliance with a new airworthiness directive for South African aircraft.
The MAX has been out of service for almost two years following two fatal crashes where pilots lost control of the aircraft because of an issue with a sensor in its flight control system. This caused aviation authorities to enact the longest grounding of an aircraft in modern history.
SACAA’s decision is somewhat moot at this point. Comair, which was the only airline in South Africa to take ownership of the MAX, has said that it has no plans to reintroduce the aircraft during the airline’s ramp-up of services following eight months of dormancy in business rescue.
“SACAA has been participating in the United States FAA briefing webinars and closely monitoring developments around the return to service of the Boeing 737 MAX aircraft. Consistent with International Civil Aviation Organization prescripts, the FAA, as the State of Design, has the authority and obligation to issue an Airworthiness Directive (AD) to address unsafe conditions when appropriate. As per the AD, the work to be undertaken includes the review, analysis, testing and evaluation of the proposed software update for the MAX series aircraft, as well as the updating of operational documentation (flight crew and maintenance procedures), and enhanced flight crew training,” said SACAA spokesperson, Kabelo Ledwaba.
“Now, with the prohibition order uplifted and an AD having been issued by the FAA, any (MAX) aircraft registered and intending to operate into and/or in the South African airspace will need to demonstrate compliance with the requirements of this particular AD. Compliance with this AD enables individual operators to conduct series of tests (including evaluation of the proposed software updated, the planning of operational documentation including flight crew and maintenance procedures and enhanced flight crew training), which, when successful, will allow that aircraft to be returned to commercial service,” added Kabelo.