The initial certification of Boeing's now infamous 737 Max models has been questioned by multiple countries and American agencies rallying to investigate the issue. The investigation of a joint international panel is expected to run for three months.
According to CNN, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced that a union of government officials under civil aviation groups in nine countries and three federal agencies in the United States would conduct the investigation.
Called the Joint Authorities Technical Review, the group is expected to kick off its probe on the Boeing 737 Max models' initial certification process on April 29. The investigation is not part of the company's ongoing efforts in getting its planes back in the flight industry.
The Associated Press reported that Former National Transportation Safety Board Chairman Christ Hart would join the investigative panel along with NASA and FAA experts. Aviation authorities from the European Union, China, Japan, Indonesia, Singapore, Brazil, Australia, Canada, and the United Arab Emirates will join the probe.
After the two crashes that took place in five months, Boeing worked on a software fix to update a glitch in 737 Max models' anti-stall systems. Initial findings from investigators revealed that the two crashes were caused by faulty data reading that triggered the planes to nose-dive before crash-landing.
Earlier this week, Boeing declared that there was "significant" progress in its work on getting the grounded planes certified by the FAA. Test flights have been completed with the updated flight control system that was believed to have contributed to two crashes in October and March.
CEO Dennis Muilenburg said that he participated in the test flight on Wednesday to ensure that the anti-stall system did not malfunction and the Boeing 737 Max jets are ready for certification.
Following Boeing's progress update, Air Canada announced that its pilots started reviewing the 737 Max planes' systems. Canadian Transport Minister Marc Garneau said earlier this week Ottawa wants additional training with a simulator for pilots who will fly the Max planes.
Industry analysts noted that the FAA previously said there's no need for a simulator when training Boeing 737 Max pilots. The contradictory stances on this particular issue are believed to be causing a rift between the White House and the Canadian government.
Earlier this month, Air Canada announced that it would ground all 737 Max jets until July. The move came after other airlines across the world grounded the Boeing jet following the Ethiopian Airlines, and Lion Air crashes that killed 346 people.
