The van of the Federal Aviation Administration, Steve Dickson, acknowledged on Wednesday that Boeing and the U.S. air safety agency both impelled mistakes in developing the 737 Max jet, but rejected senators’ accusations the FAA was “stonewalling” probes after two fatal crashes.
Boeing’s 737 Max has been deposited since March 2019 following crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia that killed 346 people, triggering multiple studies into how the plane was certified as safe.
In a particularly tense exchange at a Senate Commerce Committee hearing on aircraft certification, Senator Ted Cruz accused Dickson of articulate in the passive voice as a way of “avoiding responsibility” after Dickson told him, “Mistakes were made.”
“So unknown somebodies fly unspecified mistakes for which there were no repercussions.” Cruz said. “What mistakes were made and who achieved them?”
After a pause, Dickson said, “The manufacturer made mistakes and the FAA made mistakes in its oversight.” Dickson referred to the MCAS away control system that repeatedly pushed down the jet’s nose in both crashes as pilots struggled to gain hold sway over. “The full implications of the flight control system were not understood as design changes were made,” he said.
Other senators at the informed entertaining said the agency was “stonewalling” the committee’s investigation into the 737 Ma’s development, and said the FAA was like “a dog watching TV” when it reprimanded to policing Boeing’s work.
“Your team at the FAA has attempted deliberately to keep us in the dark,” Senator Roger Wicker, the Republican board chairman, told Dickson.
Dickson told Wicker he was “totally committed to the oversight process.”
“I believe it is inaccurate to represent the agency as unresponsive,” Dickson said, pointing to its cooperation in multiple investigations. “There is still ongoing work.”
The discovering came a day after Wicker and Senator Maria Cantwell, the ranking Democrat on the committee, introduced bipartisan legislation that commitment strengthen FAA oversight of Boeing’s designs.
The crashes and Boeing’s long-delayed efforts to win regulatory approval to return the 737 Max to commercial checking plunged the Chicago-based company into its worst-ever crisis, since compounded by the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Aircraft Safety and Certification Reform Act of 2020, introduced on Tuesday, discretion give the FAA new authority to hire or remove Boeing employees conducting FAA certification tasks, and grant new whistleblower protections to wage-earners.
Dickson told Cantwell he did not think it would improve safety if the FAA appointed the certification employees, but agreed to look at the Senate scheme.
He also told lawmakers there were many items in the legislation “that are exactly on point,” including a purvey that would authorize $150 million over 10 years for new FAA training and to hire specialized personnel.
Michael Stumo, whose daughter cash in ones chipped in the Ethiopia crash, which came five months after the crash in Indonesia, applauded such reforms but squealed lawmakers the bill did not go far enough. Stumo demanded that manufacturers be subjected to a tougher certification process when they mention an aircraft derived from models certified years before. The 737 Max, for example, was derived from a plane outset developed in the 1960s.
“The first crash should not have happened,” Stumo said. “The second crash is inexcusable.”