Originally Posted by ZapBrannigan

We are two weeks out from the 12/27 deadline to certify the Max 7 and the Max 10 after which Boeing would be required to incorporate a modern (1990s era?) crew alerting system prior to certification of the type.

This morning on the Airlines Confidential podcast hosted by former Spirit Airlines CEO Ben Baldanza, Ben suggested (beginning around 04:30) that no politician was going to stand up and say that the Max doesn’t NEED a common safety feature and that Boeing would likely miss the deadline. He went on to say that they most likely already had a solution and that they would end up paying for it. Was he hinting that (in his opinion) they might have an EICAS plan for the Max 7 and Max 10, even if that meant a new type certificate?

My opinion only - Would an extension be the right thing for us… yes, obviously. The right thing for aviation safety… that’s debatable. EICAS has been the gold standard for human factors in flight deck design since the mid 1990s. It is unconscionable that Boeing has allowed the 737 to languish in the dark ages for two generations of that airplane. In a perfect world they should require EICAS and an overhead panel redesign not only for the Max, but a retrofit for the NG as well.

So given Baldanza’s comments, and 13 days remaining before the deadline… talk amongst yourselves.