Pinnacle Solutions Inc. has been awarded a subcontract by Boeing-Sikorsky Aircraft Support for the recompete of the Life Cycle Contractor Support Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity contract.

When the FAA releases revised guidelines for pilot training for the modified Boeing 737 MAX, insiders expect a motion-based FFS will not be required. CAT Editor-In-Chief, Rick Adams, FRAeS, reports.

The anticipated training requirements for the modified Boeing 737 MAX aircraft will not likely require hardware changes to full-flight simulators or other MAX flight training devices which have already been built. “We’ve just done a large update to all the segments,” CAE’s Nick Leontidis told CAT. “The FAA and everybody else are doing their testing; there’s some required modifications, and we have just finished an update for all our sims. So things seem to be progressing in the right direction. I’m going to assume that things are quite mature at the moment.” Leontidis, Group President, Civil Aviation Training Solutions, for the Montréal-based simulator manufacturer and training services provider, confirmed that the updates are software-only.

“They’re obviously being very, very quiet about the whole thing,” he added. CAE had a representative on the FAA working group evaluating the training changes.

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A key part of the FAA’s aircraft re-certification is a simulator training evaluation by a Joint Operational Evaluation Board (JOEB) in which pilots from around the world will be asked to validate training requirements. The JOEB is said to be primarily looking at the order and priority of checklists and memory items.

Travel restrictions related to the pandemic add uncertainty to how JOEB sessions can be conducted. The select group may perform its work remotely in flight simulators around the world, rather than transiting to Boeing’s main training center in Miami, Florida, where COVID-19 is raging anew.

Following the sim sessions, the FAA's Flight Standardization Board will propose minimum training requirements, then a public comment period, before final approval of training.

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After being grounded for 15 months, Boeing 737 MAX re-certification flights may begin as early as today. Robert W. Moorman explores the turbulent history of the airplane, and Rick Adams outlines the steps to a revised training program.

This past year has been a trying one for Boeing Commercial Airplanes. The revenue-draining after-effects of back-to-back fatal accidents involving the company’s latest and last 737, the MAX, and the costly fixes to the aircraft’s software system remain a major concern for the iconic plane maker.

The timeline for the aircraft’s return to commercial airline service keeps slipping, although MAX production resumed in May 2020 at its Renton, Washington plant. Boeing stopped MAX production in January and all aircraft production in late March due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Latest reports speculate that the MAX will remain grounded until August 2020, at least.

Equally troubling for Boeing is the lack of confidence in the MAX by some airlines and passengers. Hundreds of orders have been deferred or cancelled.

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