Report Finds Gaps in FAA Risk Assessment After 737 Max Problems

The National Academy of Sciences gave the agency more than a dozen recommendations.

Michael Wildes

Thursday, June 23, 2022 at 04:07 PM ET

Verified

The FAA certified the 737 Max in 2017. [Courtesy: Boeing]

Key Takeaways:

A U.S. Congress-ordered report by the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) made 13 recommendations for the FAA's certification process, specifically highlighting significant gaps in its Transport Airplane Risk Assessment Methodology (TARAM) following the Boeing 737 Max accidents.
The report found TARAM lacked public visibility, synergy among personnel, formal training, and robust expertise, with only one recognized subject-matter expert, which likely contributed to risk assessment deficiencies.
Representative Peter DeFazio, Chair of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, urged the FAA to implement the recommendations "without delay" to effectively advance and improve passenger safety.

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After two Boeing 737 Max accidents in five months killed 346 people sent shockwaves through the aviation industry, a U.S. Congress-ordered report by the National Academy of Sciences released Wednesday gives the FAA a series of wide-ranging recommendations for its certification process.

Gaps in the FAA Risk Assessment Process

There were thirteen recommendations overall, with timelines of 6 to 18 months, that the Academy suggested the FAA should implement. Tellingly, the report noted the FAA’s process of calculating the risk associated with continued operational safety issues in the U.S. transport airplane fleet—known as the Transport Airplane Risk Assessment Methodology (TARAM)—lacked the appropriate public visibility because “national guidance for TARAM is currently contained only in one published document—the TARAM Handbook.”