Federal Aviation Administrator Mike Whitaker will make the rounds on Capitol Hill this week focusing on the agency’s oversight of Boeing Co. in what has become a familiar pattern — plenty of tough questions yet still no resolution to the manufacturer’s problems.
Accusations have swirled for years that the FAA was too lax on the aircraft manufacturer following two plane crashes in 2018 and 2019 that killed 346 people.
One person wondering whether tough questions are enough is former House Transportation and Infrastructure Chair Peter A. DeFazio, who led his own investigation into Boeing and passed aircraft certification overhauls in 2020.
“I thought — with the scrutiny of the report, the changes in the law, the deficiencies pointed out by the review commission — that things would change. But apparently, until Whitaker came in, they didn’t,” DeFazio said in an interview. “It was just business as usual.”
Whitaker, who became FAA administrator last October, will face two panels this week: The House Transportation Subcommittee on Aviation on Tuesday, focusing on Boeing’s safety plan, then the Senate Homeland Security Investigations Subcommittee on Wednesday, focused on FAA’s oversight of Boeing before and after the January mid-flight door-plug blowout on a 737 Max 9. […]
— Read More: rollcall.com
