The way the FAA assesses the risk of a fatal airplane crash after a safety incident needs substantial overhaul, according to an evaluation mandated by Congress following the two Boeing 737 Max crashes conducted by an expert panel for the National Academies of Sciences.
The FAA declined to discuss with the expert committee the specific risk analysis that prompted the review: the safety regulator's December 2018 risk assessment after the first crash of a Boeing 737 Max in Indonesia that led to the decision to allow the Max to continue to fly.
Nevertheless, the 74-page technical report, published Wednesday, offers 13 recommendations for substantial improvements in the process that produced that 2018 assessment.
