U.S. FAA chief to testify at Senate hearing on Boeing
737 MAX
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[June 03, 2020] By
David Shepardson
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Federal
Aviation Administration chief Steve Dickson will testify June 17 before
a U.S. Senate panel on certification of the Boeing 737 MAX that was
involved in two fatal crashes in five months that killed 346 people.
The Senate Commerce Committee said Dickson "will testify about issues
associated with the design, development, certification, and operation"
of the MAX that has been grounded since March 2019.
The FAA's long-standing practice of delegating certification tasks to
Boeing employees for the MAX has come under withering criticism. Reuters
has reported the FAA is not expected to grant approval to allow the MAX
to resume flights until August at the earliest.
A House Transportation Committee in March called the FAA’s certification
review of the 737 MAX "grossly insufficient" and said the agency had
failed in its duty to identify key safety problems.
The U.S. Transportation Department's inspector general is expected to
soon release a fact-finding report into the plane's certification, but
make no recommendations.
Boeing, which resumed production of the MAX last week at a very low
rate, did not comment.
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Steve Dickson, Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration,
speaks at the UK Aviation Club about the Boeing 737 MAX, in London,
Britain, February 6, 2020. REUTERS/Peter Nicholls
Senate Commerce chairman Roger Wicker introduced legislation Tuesday to
require FAA to review assumptions regarding pilot reaction time and
reform its certification processes to "eliminate instances of undue
pressure or 'regulatory coziness' that could lead to lapses in safety
protocols."
In January, Boeing released hundreds of internal messages containing
harshly critical comments about MAX's development. One said the plane
was “designed by clowns who in turn are supervised by monkeys."
The messages showed attempts to duck regulatory scrutiny with employees
disparaging the plane, the company and FAA.
The U.S. Justice Department has been conducting a criminal investigation
into the 737 MAX.
The FAA said last month it would require Boeing and other aircraft
manufacturers to adopt new safety-management tools.
(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Chris Reese)
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