The FAA says a 737 MAX software fault will not hold up the MAX 10 certificate

The Federal Aviation Administration will not make Boeing fix a 737 MAX flight-management software fault before the 737-10 can be certified. A Corrective Action Review Board of agency safety staff decided on Friday 2 October that the fault is not a safety concern, because pilots keep full control of the aircraft and the indications to the crew are clear and unambiguous. The decision lifts a pause the FAA itself had put on the certificate days earlier. The 737-10 is the largest MAX and the last variant in the family without a type certificate.

The fault shows up when pilots change the programmed flight path during a missed approach. In some of those cases the flight guidance system drops out of VNAV, the vertical navigation mode, and into a simpler pitch mode such as level change or vertical speed. Boeing will publish a bulletin on how to recognise the transition and how to respond. The FAA will issue a Special Airworthiness Information Bulletin so US operators and foreign authorities see the same instructions. Boeing and GE Aerospace are still writing a software update. The code now in the computers is Update 14.1, the only version compatible with the 737-7 and the 737-10. Earlier MAX and Next Generation aircraft fly older loads. The board's point is that the update can follow entry into service. It does not have to lead it.

The same finding covers the 737-7, which has just been certified and had been at risk of a mandatory software change before passengers boarded. A hold on the -7 would have been a delivery problem for airlines that already have the smaller jet in the schedule. A hold on the -10 would have pushed the largest jet past the window Boeing has been promising all year. The board removed both risks in one sitting, in Seattle.

The timing explains why the decision moved markets and airline plans on a Friday. On 16 September, Boeing chief executive Kelly Ortberg told an investor conference that MAX 10 certification would arrive very soon. On 24 September, Alaska Airlines chief operating officer Jason Berry said he expected approval before the end of the month, a first delivery in the northern spring of 2027, and passenger flights between April and mid-May. The software question then appeared and the agency paused. Reuters reported that, with Friday's ruling, industry officials see a certificate as still possible in October. That is an official reading of a mood, not a date the FAA has published. The agency has said the fault will not block the certificate. It has not said the certificate will be issued this month.

The previous obstacle was different and lasted longer. From 2023 into 2026 the -7 and the -10 were held up by the anti-ice system on the CFM LEAP-1B engines. In dry air, and in certain combinations of altitude, temperature and power, the system could overheat the engine's composite inner barrel. That issue was the reason the largest MAX slipped by years. The flight-management fault is a late addition to a file that was otherwise in the paperwork. Ortberg's very soon and Berry's end-of-month hope were both spoken before the CARB pause. Friday's finding puts those hopes back in play. It does not restore the September calendar.

What changes for a pilot, if the bulletin is the only action before certification, is a procedure rather than a new computer. On a missed approach, if the mode annunciator leaves VNAV, the crew flies the simpler mode the aircraft has already selected, or reselects the mode they want. The FAA's case is that this cue is unambiguous and that control never leaves the cockpit. The update GE is writing would stop the transition. Until it is loaded, the bulletin is the mitigation. Airlines that take the first 737-10s will carry that bulletin in the book from day one.

The certificate, when it comes, clears the last new MAX airframe. It does not clear the software update, which remains open work between Boeing and GE. October is the month industry officials are now using. The FAA's sentence is the narrower one: the fault is not a reason to refuse the certificate.