Originally Posted by
Smooth at FL450
The FAA hadn't said anything about the -7 and it's anti-icing issues before Boeing retracted its request for relief. They backed down after public outcry from Senators on the transportation committee voicing their opposition to any further relief by the FAA. Smartly, Boeing pulled the request.
The FAA probably hadn't even considered it.
Ok, then why were they dragging their feet certifying it when the data from the -7 was used to re-certify the -8? Boeing had to get an exemption from Congress for the EICAS requirement because it wasn’t certified in time. The latest production issues aren’t related to the -7 because they shut that line down long before due to delays.
I get that the issues compound and it’s not a good look for the FAA or Boeing. I just haven’t ever seen a timeline from the govt other than “it’ll be certified when we certify it” and the constant rolling Boeing delays. Unless there’s more going on…just seems to me like they want to tighten the screws because they can and because they were made to look bad after the crashes.
I hadn’t even heard about the icing issue until the RBF so AFAIK, that’s a relatively recent thing. I’m no govt agency genius but I’d think if you have the data and it checks, then you approve the request for certification vs delay indefinitely because someone’s pecker in DC got stepped on.