By Tom Costello and Ben Popken - NBC News
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA, in English) announced on Wednesday that the Boeing 737 Max will be recertified and will be able to fly again, in what is the end point of a comprehensive review process that kept this type of aircraft on the ground during almost two years after two fatal accidents.
The Max 737s failed to take off again in March 2019 following a Lion Air accident in October 2018 in Indonesia that killed all 189 people on board.
Five months earlier, another similar tragedy occurred when an Ethiopian Airlines craft crashed shortly after takeoff, killing all 157 people inside.
Boeing 737 Max planes on the ground after ban to fly Reuters
In September, a House of Representatives investigation blamed the plane's manufacturer and the FAA for "repeated and serious failures."
The fatal accidents were "a horrifying culmination of a series of technical flawed assumptions by Boeing engineers, a lack of transparency by Boeing management, and grossly insufficient oversight by the FAA," the FAA Committee report concluded. Transportation and Infrastructure of the House of Representatives.
["Designed by clowns." Emails from Boeing employees show mockery of a plane later banned from flying]
Following the release of that report, Boeing said in a statement that it would "do the work" necessary.
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Investigators focused their inquiries on anti-lock software that Boeing had devised to counteract the aircraft's tendency to tilt upward due to the size and location of the engines.
That software repeatedly pushed the nose down on the two aircraft that crashed, and the pilots could do nothing to regain control.
In each case, a single faulty sensor triggered the nose-down weight.
Boeing made several design mistakes on the craft, rushed to compete with an Airbus model, and the FAA did not adequately oversee design and manufacturing, the report found.
Pilot error also contributed to both accidents, according to investigators.
[Boeing acknowledges the company's "mistake" in two accidents that left 346 dead]
"Administrator Steve Dickson today signed an order that paves the way for the Boeing 737 MAX to return to commercial service," the FAA said in a statement Wednesday, specifying several steps that must be taken before the planes can fly. , how to approve reviews and maintenance of the pilot training program that must be carried out in aircraft on the ground.
"I am 100% sure of the actions we have taken," Dickson told CNBC on Wednesday morning.
"I would put my own family in [the Max]. I understand the concerns. This is the time for humility," he added.
Boeing company admits mistakes in the development of the 737 Max plane
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Now the hard part is convincing other passengers that the Max is ready for take off.
[Boeing CEO resigns after fatal 737 MAX crashes. The company appoints a new CEO]
"Many families can be reluctant to fly the Max when it is cleared for takeoff," said Erik Olund, who runs the American Airlines maintenance base in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
"My family will fly on the plane before the general public. I will have no problem getting on this plane when we restore it to service," he said.
Michal Stumo, who lost his daughter, Samya, in the Ethopian crash, said he doesn't think the Max is safe.
"Samya would have been planning to come be with us on Thanksgiving," he told NBC News, "anyone who is booking a flight really needs to avoid a Boeing 737 Max-8 and try to find another flight."
Passengers could fly in a 737 Max before the end of the year.
American Airlines is planning to refloat a single Max passenger flight from December 29 to January 4 between Miami and New York.
United Airlines and Southwest say they will clear their Maxs for take off early next year.
[The authorization of the FAA does not mean that the rest of the aviation authorities of other countries have also given their approval, so this aircraft could only fly in the United States until this happens.]