The FAA faces a loss of confidence as Congress looks at the problems of accidents

Some lawmakers want an independent review before the FAA allows Boeing's troubled 737 MAX to rise to the skies – another sign of the agency's loss of credibility after two fatal crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia.

As the convention gets ready and as Congress prepares to hold its first hearing Wednesday on how the aircraft has been certified as being safe to fly, among other issues, House Transportation's president, Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) Took the unusual decision to call the planes. stay in place until a valid third party corrections that the agency requires. Boeing is currently testing a software patch that he hopes will be signed soon by the FAA, saying his "final bid" is expected by the end of the week.

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The proposal of the legislator is in force a strong reprimand for an agency that, just a few months ago, was considered the absolute benchmark for security in the world.

"The traveling public needs to be assured that the FAA will recertify the aircraft for flights only if and when the FAA, outside technical and safety experts and pilots agree that the aircraft is safe to fly, "said DeFazio Tuesday. -party review "to ensure that the Boeing hotfix is ​​complete and that pilots have the training they need to fly the aircraft safely before aircraft are allowed for service .

He insisted that his proposal should not be interpreted as a vote of "censorship" in the FAA and that his call for revision is based on precedents. He cited a study done on the grounding in 2013 of another Boeing aircraft, the 787 Dreamliner. But this review was commissioned by the FAA was not performed by a third party and the recertification of the Dreamliner fleet was not based on its results. An assistant to DeFazio later stated that it was not a "reprimand" from the FAA.

The DeFazio appeal was launched as the FAA took a closer look at the process used to verify aircraft safety, particularly the major role played by industry players, such as Boeing, as part of the Congress mandate. delegate many inspection, testing and certification tasks to manufacturers. . On Tuesday evening, DeFazio, along with Representative Rick Larsen (D-Wash.), Sent a letter to the FAA officially requesting the review, although this does not explicitly require that this be done as a condition allowing the jets to return to the air. .

"It is imperative that all proposed technical changes … be complete and reliable," reads the letter. "In order to provide this level of assurance, we invite you to engage in a third-party independent assessment of people with technical skills and expertise to objectively advise on any planned action that requires certification. security of new and innovative technologies. "

Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Who did not sign the letter, echoed DeFazio's proposal and said Boeing and its airline customers should support it. "The credibility of the current safety oversight system is so much in question," he said. "Credibility is so much in question that they would be well served to have some kind of independent authority."

The FAA stated that it had not yet seen DeFazio's letter and therefore had no comments to make. However, interim administrator Dan Elwell is expected to announce Wednesday at a hearing before the Senate that his agency "welcomes the external review of our systems, processes and recommendations."

The Senate of Commerce, Roger Wicker (R-Mademoiselle), whose panel will hold Wednesday's hearing, said he had not spoken to DeFazio about his call for a review by a third party, but that he remained convinced that the FAA was the "gold standard" for aviation safety. . "It's fine to ask the questions, but I still think the FAA is well managed and reliable," Wicker said. "But we will ask these questions and we will see, and new facts can be uncovered."

Blumenthal stated that he intended to pressure the FAA on delegating his aircraft certification authority to Boeing "could have contributed to the absolutely disastrous software and training that was so lacking in the Boeing 737 MAX 8 ", and suggested that the FAA could have been" trying to make security on the cheap ".

Only a few months ago, the FAA was widely regarded as the world leader in aviation safety. After nine years, no one died in a domestic passenger plane crash on US soil – and other countries generally followed the FAA's example. . But these assumptions were denied after the second crash of the 737 MAX in Ethiopia on March 10. The FAA took three days to land the fleet in the United States, even as dozens of other countries had closed the sky on the plane until the United States stood up. . only.

Since then, the European Union and Canada have announced that they will conduct their own exams independently of the FAA before deciding to let the 737 MAX fly again.

DeFazio stated that its own third-party review proposal had already taken place since the Department of Transport had failed Boeing's Dreamliners following a series of smoke and electrical fires. But the FAA ordered the revision of Dreamliner, which was performed by FAA and Boeing engineers, who were independent only to the extent that they had not participated in the original Dreamliner certification. This report was only developed a year after the FAA confirmed again that the fleet was safe to fly again.

Today, one of the leading US lawmakers said the FAA was too close to Boeing to guarantee that any 737 MAX fix was adequate, while the agency's trend to delegate more in addition to his tasks of approving aircraft to builders supposed to supervise. These include executives of workers paid by Boeing acting on behalf of the FAA to approve compliance.

DeFazio said Monday night that he had concerns when Congress granted the new delegation of powers in 2003, a strategy that lawmakers repeatedly endorsed in legislation last fall.

"I could not really see how we were going to create these firewalls," said DeFazio, "Someone writes your paycheck, but you're going to be there as" I represent the FAA "and you're going to be totally in the face of corporate pressure, "he said, noting that the United States had" a truly formidable decade "in terms of aviation safety and security. that the delegation system "seemed to work".

"But there are obviously problems," he said.

The Senate will first address these issues by holding a hearing before a Committee of Commerce Committee on Wednesday, focusing on how the aircraft has been certified as being safe. to fly with design flaws suspected now in two accidents. Some Senators will also want to know more about how the FAA made its decision to stop jet planes – and why it took longer than other countries – as well as the changes made to the plan. software for the purpose of remedying a software problem.

Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), a member of the subcommittee, said that he did not consider the audience to be a "hangover moment".

"I want to know what is their process of deploying this new software and training," he said. "I want to kind of look at the ticking, the certification process, the self-certification. And I want to know why the FAA was so quiet during this 48-hour period between the first grounding of the 737 MAX when the United States took them out of service.

Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R.-W.Va.) announced her intention to ask questions about pilot training standards.

"If you have to fumble around in the cockpit and get the manual to find out what's going on, what is the international training program and who's the responsibility?" Capito said. "I do not think it's the responsibility of the FAA to train pilots in other countries, but I imagine it would be up to Boeing and what kind of coordination the FAA has with the other agencies." Aviation around the world to standardize training. "

According to his prepared testimony, Elwell will tell the panel that the agency is aware that "its approach to surveillance must evolve so that the FAA remains the world leader in aviation safety."

He will also emphasize that the agency's delegation program "is not a self-certification; the FAA retains a strict supervisory power. He will say that the FAA was "directly involved in the system safety review" of the Boeing 737 MAX's anti-stall system and that she had tested the software update proposed by Boeing, originally sent At the agency on January 21, about three months after the 737 MAX operated by the Indonesian Air Lion, plunged into the Java Sea.

Elwell should announce that "the grounding will only be lifted when the FAA's analysis of the facts and technical data indicate that this is appropriate".

Senate staff expect that not only the members of the subgroups, but also the members of the entire Trade Committee, will interview Elwell, the Inspector General of the Department of Transport, Calvin Scovel, and National Transportation Safety Board Chair Robert Sumwalt.

The chair of the subcommittee, Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas), intends to hold further hearings on accidents in the future, said staff.

Earlier Wednesday, Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao will appear before a sub-committee on Senate appropriations to answer questions regarding President Donald Trump's budget proposal. But members could also ask Chao questions about the FAA and Boeing.

Dick Whip, a member of the Senate, Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Questioned why the FAA did not order the 737 MAX jets to have a light that disagrees illuminates if both aircraft angle of attack sensors have different readings. Boeing proposed a "Disagreement Witness", but only as an option, for an additional fee.

Tanya Snyder contributed to this story.