The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has initiated a formal review of Boeing’s revised flight-deck alerting architecture for the 737 MAX 10, a critical step before the most prominent member of the MAX family can be certified.
At issue are Boeing’s proposed updates to the aircraft’s stall-warning and overspeed alert logic, which now include a synthetic angle-of-attack (AoA) input to supplement physical sensors. The redesign introduces new alert cut-out functions intended to prevent nuisance warnings when data discrepancies occur, an area closely scrutinized since the MAX grounding crisis.
The FAA said its system-safety assessment will examine the integration of synthetic AoA with existing flight-control computers, verify compliance with 14 CFR §25.1322 and §25.1329, and ensure that alert prioritization meets current human-factors standards.
Boeing confirmed the evaluation, noting that the “enhanced flight-crew alerting and synthetic data pathways” are meant to “further harmonize” the MAX 10’s cockpit logic with future models. The manufacturer has reiterated that no significant hardware changes are required beyond the software and alerting updates.
Certification of the MAX 10, initially targeted for late 2024, is now expected in mid- to late-2026, pending the outcome of this review. The process will also determine whether any of the new alerting standards must be retrofitted to earlier MAX variants, an issue of interest to operators and regulators worldwide.
Images: Boeing, Hispaviacion