The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration will convene a Corrective Action Review Board (CARB) to examine a flight management computer software flaw on the 737 MAX that can disengage the aircraft's automated vertical navigation during a specific missed-approach sequence — a finding that lands as Boeing approaches the end of the MAX 10 certification campaign and the commercial debut of the MAX 7.

The Wall Street Journal first reported the issue on September 26, 2026. Boeing has since confirmed it to 737 operators and says its engineers are developing a permanent software update. The FAA says it is working with Boeing and airlines to assess the problem and will take immediate action if the review identifies a safety concern.

The fault affects certain versions of the flight management computer software and emerges under a narrow set of circumstances: a precision approach flown with the autopilot engaged, followed by a go-around and changes to the pre-programmed flight path. Under that sequence, the vertical navigation mode — VNAV — can drop out.

The failure mode is narrower than an autopilot loss. Boeing says the autopilot can continue to function even when VNAV disengages, with the aircraft reverting to a less sophisticated form of automated pitch control. VNAV manages the vertical flight path, including altitude constraints programmed into the flight management system. When it becomes unavailable, pilots must take additional steps to manage the subsequent approach themselves.

The safety concern therefore centers on pilot workload at a critical phase of flight rather than an immediate loss of control. The scenario can occur at relatively low altitude, at a moment when crews are already handling the go-around, aircraft reconfiguration, communications and navigation simultaneously. Boeing has told operators that existing pilot procedures provide a way to manage the situation safely while the permanent fix is in development.

Certification timing complicates the picture

For the MAX 10, the timing is awkward. Boeing is in the final stages of the type's certification flight-test campaign, and the FAA must now weigh whether the newly identified software issue warrants additional consideration before the amended type certificate is issued. Any demand for a software fix ahead of certification would add a task to a program that has already run years beyond its original schedule.

The MAX 7 presents a different question. That variant already holds its FAA type certificate, so the issue becomes whether regulators or Boeing require corrective action before or during the aircraft's introduction into airline service. A software retrofit across the in-production fleet and any already-built MAX 7 airframes would carry cost and delivery-schedule implications for Boeing and its customers.

Boeing has previously targeted customer deliveries of both the MAX 7 and MAX 10 in 2027. That timeline now depends partly on how the CARB process concludes, how quickly Boeing can certify and roll out the software update, and whether the FAA treats the flaw as a certification gate for the MAX 10 or an in-service fix across the broader MAX family.