Boeing’s 737 Max Flight Tests Underestimated Risks, US Investigators Say

Boeing’s 737 Max Flight Tests Underestimated Risks, US Investigators Say
Boeing 737 MAX airplanes are seen parked for storage at a Boeing facility on Aug. 13, 2019 in Renton, Washington. David Ryder/Getty Images
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Boeing Co.’s evaluation of the 737 Max system during development used an oversimplified test that didn’t anticipate the cacophony of alarms and alerts that actually occurred during a pair of deadly crashes, U.S. investigators concluded.

In the first official finding from a U.S. government review of the crashes that grounded Boeing’s best-selling airliner, the National Transportation Safety Board on Sept. 26 issued seven recommendations calling on the Federal Aviation Administration to update how it assumes pilots will react in emergencies and to make aircraft more intuitive when things go wrong.