Bloomberg is reporting the certification test flight for the changes to Boeing’s 737 MAX flight architecture is expected to occur in early October, paving the way for a return to service sometime in the fourth quarter of this year. Quoting unnamed sources, the news service said Boeing engineers have worked through most of the issues raised by the FAA and other regulators during the five-month grounding of the fleet and few new issues have been raised. However, the biggest issue in the return to service, whether MAX pilots will need simulator training before returning to the cockpit, has not been decided by the FAA.
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://www.avweb.com/flight-safety/max-certification-flight-may-occur-in-october