Senate Committee’s 737 Max Report Critical of FAA, Boeing

The Senate Commerce Committee made the announcement after the release of a 97-page report summing up a multi-year investigation into accidents involving two Boeing 737 Max airplanes from two air carriers that happened within five months of each other. In all, 346 people were killed. 

Both losses were attributed in part to the malfunction of the maneuvering characteristics augmentation system (MCAS), a flight stabilizing program added to the 737 Max to counteract a nose pitch-up tendency. The pilots allegedly were not sufficiently trained on the use of the MCAS. In both crashes, the aircraft entered an uncommanded nose dive from which the pilots could not recover.

The accidents resulted in a 20-month grounding of the entire 737 Max fleet and prompted Congress to pass sweeping reforms on how the FAA certifies airplanes.

During the investigation, the Senate Committee received pages of documentation and testimony from whistleblowers, who raised concerns about the safety culture at Boeing where, the report concluded,  “the current aircraft certification process places too much pressure on line engineers and production staff.”

The report states the “FAA’s oversight of the certification process has eroded,” noting that the FAA had delegated much of its authority to Boeing to essentially self-certify the aircraft. This resulted in “undue pressure” at Boeing. In addition, there were allegations that whistleblowing—the practice of calling attention to safety issues—was met with retaliation.

According to a statement from Boeing, the company has received the committee’s report and has begun to review it.

“Safety and quality are Boeing’s highest priorities, and Boeing teammates are encouraged to speak up whenever they have safety or quality concerns,” a Boeing spokesperson noted, adding, “There are multiple channels available to report any such concerns, including confidentiality or anonymously, and employees are protected against any form of retaliation.”

The Senate Committee is chaired by Sen. Maria Cantwell from Washington. The 737 Max is built in Washington at Renton Municipal Airport (KRNT) outside of Seattle.

In a letter to FAA Administrator Steve Dickson, Cantwell asked him to “review the concerns raised by these whistleblowers, and implement necessary changes to improve safety in the aviation industry.”

The FAA has said that it “takes all whistleblower allegations seriously and does not tolerate retaliation against those who raise safety concerns.”

In addition, the FAA has a published document depicting the timelines of events in regard to the 737 investigation.

Boeing officials note that many of the issues covered by the committee’s report have been previously publicized and the aerospace company has worked to address them.

“Boeing has made significant changes to improve its safety culture, including the creation of a new organization dedicated to product and services safety across the Boeing enterprise and the implementation of a safety management system,” the document says. “And Congress has made numerous changes to aviation oversight in the Aircraft Certification, Safety, Accountability Act. We remain focused on those improvements, and we will review the report’s findings and recommendations as we continue that process.”