House Transportation Committee chair to testify on FAA reform

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House Transportation Committee chair to testify on FAA reform

WASHINGTON Reuters - A U.S. House Committee will hold a hearing on Thursday with the head of Federal Aviation Administration FAA on its efforts to reform airplane certification following two Boeing 737 MAX crashes that killed 346 people.

FAA Administrator Steve Dickson will testify at a House Transportation and Infrastructure subcommitte hearing nearly three years after a Lion Air MAX crashed in Indonesia.

In December Congress voted to increase FAA oversight of the aircraft manufacturers, requiring disclosure of critical safety information and providing new whistleblower protections.

House Transportation Committee Chairman Peter DeFazio said Monday that while the FAA continues to make progress on implementing this new law, more work must be done, especially publishing a rule requiring aerospace manufacturers to adopt safety management systems. One issue is ensuring people completing aviation certification tasks on behalf of the FAA do not feel undue pressure.

On Friday, the FAA issued two memos on its reform efforts. One directs FAA teams for Boeing, Pratt Whitney, a unit of Raytheon, and General Electric to assign FAA aviation safety personnel with appropriate expertise within 60 days to serve as advisors to the oversight offices for each company.

The other requires that FAA employees reject all new unit selections for approval or approval to the oversight offices.

An FAA survey published in August 2020 found some safety employees reported facing strong external pressure from industry and raised alarms the agency does not always prioritize air safety.

The law requires independent review of Boeing s safety culture. Acting FAA Associate Administrator for Safety Chris Rocheleau said a new agency office overseeing oversight efforts that opened this year is a key part of the FAA's ability to provide comprehensive oversight of manufacturers and their products It also allows FAA to more quickly identify and address areas of concern and to make sure safety does not take a back seat to business objectives DeFazio's panel in a 2020 report said the MAX crashes were the grossly inadequate culmination of a series of faulty assumptions by Boeing engineers, a lack of transparency by Boeing's management and grossly insufficient oversight by the FAA.