FAA Has 'Credibility Problem' Over Boeing 737 MAX Safety Approval, House Panel Chairman Says -- 2nd Update
16 May 2019 - 03:34AM
Dow Jones News
By Andy Pasztor and Ted Mann
WASHINGTON -- The Federal Aviation Administration has a
"credibility problem" related to its safety certification of Boeing
Co.'s 737 MAX aircraft, according to the chairman of a House
panel.
"The FAA needs to fix its credibility problem," Rep. Rick Larsen
(D., Wash.), chairman of the aviation subcommittee of the House
Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, said at a hearing
Wednesday. The aircraft has been involved in two fatal crashes.
Members of the committee also voiced frustration at the progress
of their oversight investigation into Boeing, the 737 MAX aircraft
and the FAA's approval of the airliner to enter service.
"The FAA has only begun to turn over documents which we
requested months ago," Rep. Peter DeFazio (D., Ore.), the
transportation committee's chairman, said at the hearing. "Boeing
has yet to provide a single document."
"Boeing continues to support the ongoing accident investigations
and is committed to working closely with members of Congress, their
staff and relevant officials," a spokesman for the company said.
"Safety is our top priority when we design, build, deliver and
maintain Boeing aircraft."
Members of the committee also have focused on how the FAA allows
third parties, including manufacturers like Boeing, to designate
some safety certifications.
A recent Wall Street Journal report cited an internal review
that found senior FAA officials didn't participate in or monitor
crucial safety assessments of the flight-control system later
implicated in the two crashes.
"If that is in fact true, the [designation] process is not
working as Congress intended," Mr. Larsen said.
Acting FAA Administrator Daniel Elwell said he was "not aware of
an internal assessment that reaches that conclusion."
Mr. Elwell ordered the initial assessment after the first 737
MAX crash in Indonesia last October, and its findings have been
shared with officials at the Department of Transportation,
according to government and industry officials.
"If we have robust oversight...it's a good system," Mr. Elwell
said of the designation procedure. "But it can always be made
better."
Mr. Elwell also criticized Boeing as being slow to notify the
FAA about certain cockpit alerts that were supposed to be standard
on MAX jets, but didn't work on much of the fleet because of a
software error. The alerts are intended to warn pilots about errant
data from sensors that measure the angle of a plane's nose.
"I am not happy with a 13-month gap between finding that anomaly
and us finding out about it," he said, referring to a time gap
earlier reported by the Journal. "We will make sure software
anomalies are reported to us more quickly."
Committee members questioned Mr. Elwell on the reason the FAA
was slower to ground the 737 MAX than regulators in other
countries, and said questions about its relationship with Boeing
were fueling public doubts about its independence.
"That you were in bed with those you were supposed to be
regulating, and that's why it took so long" to ground the plane,
said Rep. Dina Titus (D., Nev.). "That's the impression the public
has, and what we need to deal with."
Others took a more sympathetic approach toward both regulators
and Boeing, saying the accidents were as much a result of pilot
error as of flawed design.
"To focus on one single cause fails to see the forest for the
trees," said Rep. Sam Graves (R., Mo.), the ranking member of the
transportation committee and a pilot. "Failures will occur...The
most important safety feature you can have in any aircraft is a
well-trained pilot."
Mr. Elwell said he was concerned that morale has suffered at the
agency through the crisis, but that the FAA was now focused on
evaluating Boeing's proposed fixes before rescinding its order to
ground the 737 MAX.
"We're not going to do it until it's safe," he said.
Write to Andy Pasztor at andy.pasztor@wsj.com and Ted Mann at
ted.mann@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
May 15, 2019 13:19 ET (17:19 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2019 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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