美下令调查波音737 MAX 8 认证过程 波音总裁发公开信：正采取行动，确保安全
《金融时报》称，美国政府已下令对联邦航空管理局（Federal Aviation Administration，FAA）审批波音737 MAX 8机型的情况开展调查。
The US government has ordered a review into the way in which the country’s aviation regulator approved the Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft after two crashes in five months.
美国波音公司总裁丹尼斯•米伦伯格18日晚发表公开信说，该公司正在采取行动，确保波音737 MAX系列飞机的安全性。这是米伦伯格在埃塞俄比亚航空公司飞机失事后的首次公开表态。
米伦伯格说，对埃塞俄比亚航空公司空难事故的调查，以及对失事飞机驾驶舱语音记录器和飞行数据记录器数据的分析正在全面、快速展开，而埃塞俄比亚事故调查局将决定何时，以及如何用适当方式发布更多细节。
米伦伯格还在社交媒体表示：安全是波音公司的核心，确保安全可靠的飞行是我们对每个人的绝对承诺。
据《金融时报》报道，美国交通部周二宣布，部长赵小兰（Elaine Chao）要求独立总监察长加尔文•斯考维尔（Calvin Scovel）对此型飞机的认证过程进行审核。
Elaine Chao, the transport secretary, has asked Calvin Scovel, the independent inspector general, to carry out an audit of the certification process for the troubled jet, her department announced on Tuesday.
在致斯考维尔的一份备忘录中，赵小兰称，“安全是交通部的首要任务”，需要进行调查，“以帮助交通部做决策时了解情况，协助FAA真正有效落实其安全程序”。
In a memo to Calvin Scovel, the inspector general, Ms Chao said “safety is the top priority of the department” and an audit was needed “to help inform the department's decision making and the public's understanding, and to assist the FAA in ensuring that its safety procedures are implemented effectively”.
备忘录还表示，斯考维尔被要求编制一份“使波音737 MAX 8机型获得认证的客观、详尽的事实记录”。
Mr Scovel would be required to complile “an objective and detailed factual history of the activities that resulted in the certification of the Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft”, according to the memo.
《华尔街日报》援引一位消息人士称，华盛顿一个大陪审团已经向参与开发737 MAX飞机的不止一人发出传票。
The Wall Street Journal, citing unnamed sources, first reported that a grand jury in Washington had issued a subpoena to at least one person involved in the development of the 737 Max.
此外，交通部监察长进行了第二项调查，重点是西雅图地区的两家FAA办公室，一家负责机型认证，另一家负责培训管理。
The Journal also said a second inquiry by the Transportation Department's inspector general is focused on the Seattle-area office of the FAA charged with certifying aircraft as well as an office that mandates training requirements.
美国《西雅图时报》3月17日发表了一篇文章，题为《有缺陷的分析，失败的监管：波音和美国联邦航空局如何认证可疑的737 MAX飞行控制系统》。
报道称“由于缺乏资金和资源，美国联邦航空管理局多年来不断授予波音权力，让其自证飞机的安全性”。
The FAA, citing lack of funding and resources, has over the years delegated increasing authority to Boeing totake on more of the work of certifying the safety of its own airplanes.
2015年，为了追赶竞争对手空客的进度，FAA管理层不断敦促安全工程团队迅速完成授权认证，将安全认证工作委托给波音自己的团队，缩减审查工作。
As Boeing hustled in 2015 to catch up to Airbus and certify its new 737 MAX, Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) managers pushed the agency’s safety engineers to delegate safety assessments to Boeing itself, and to speedily approve the resulting analysis.
但波音公司向FAA提交的关于MAX系列机型新飞行控制系统的原始安全分析报告，存在几个关键缺陷。
But the original safety analysis that Boeing delivered to the FAA for a new flight control system on the MAX had several crucial flaws.
该飞行控制系统——机动特性增强系统（MCAS），目前正在接受审查。在不到五个月的时间里，这一机型发生了两起坠机事故，这导致FAA在3月13日下令禁飞波音737 MAX。
That flight control system, called MCAS (Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System), is now under scrutiny after two crashes of the jet in less than five months resulted in Wednesday's FAA order to ground the plane.
《西雅图时报》证实，这份关于MCAS的“系统安全分析”的相关细节是由直接参与评估或熟悉这份文件的现任和前任工程师披露的。
Current and former engineers directly involved with the evaluations or familiar with the document shared details of Boeing's “System Safety Analysis” of MCAS, which The Seattle Times confirmed.
由于MCAS被认定只会在远超出正常飞行范围的极端情况下激活，波音决定737飞行员不需要对系统进行额外培训，甚至不需要了解它，飞行手册中也没有涉及。
Since MCAS was supposed to activate only in extreme circumstances far outside the normal flight envelope, Boeing decided that 737 pilots needed no extra training on the system — and indeed that they didn’t even need to know about it. It was not mentioned in their flight manuals.
美国航空公司盟军飞行员协会发言人Dennis Tajer表示，他从旧的737 NG机型驾驶舱过渡到新的737 MAX的培训，包括在iPad上参与1小时的课程，而不需要进行模拟训练。
Dennis Tajer, a spokesman for the Allied Pilots Association at American Airlines, said his training on moving from the old 737 NG model cockpit to the new 737 MAX consisted of little more than a one-hour session on an iPad, with no simulator training.
让飞行员进行MAX机型的过渡训练达到最小化，是为波音客户节约成本的一项重要举措，也是该飞机的主要卖点，该飞机已经累计获得了5000个订单。
Minimizing MAX pilot transition training was an important cost saving for Boeing's airline customers, a key selling point for the jet, which has racked up more than 5,000 orders.
《金融时报》表示，目前，美国总统特朗普已提名前飞行员、达美航空高管Stephen Dickson担任FAA正式局长。该提名须通过参议院确认。
Donald Trump, the US president, moved to end that situation on Tuesday, nominating Stephen Dickson, a former pilot and executive at Delta Air Lines, to be the agency’s permanent administrator. Mr Dickson will need to be confirmed in the Senate before he can take the role.
加拿大本周也表示，将启动对FAA认证MAX机型的审查，因为加拿大接受FAA对产自美国的新机型做出的认证。加拿大交通部门称，将对波音的软件更新作出自己的认证，即使FAA已经对此有了认证。
Canada, which accepts FAA certifications for new aircraft made in the US, said earlier this week it would review its own validation of the Max certification by the FAA. The country’s transport ministry has also said it will conduct its own checks on the software update once it is released.
周二，欧盟航空安全机构也表示将测试软件更新，但尚未表示是否会对MAX的初步批准进行审查。
On Tuesday, the EU’s aviation safety agency also said it would test the software updates, though it has not said whether it will undertake a review into the Max's initial approval.
编辑：胡雨濛、王瑜
中国日报（chinadailywx）综合外媒报道