Blumenthal Demands FAA Administrator Take Stronger Action on Aircraft Safety

[WASHINGTON, D.C.] – During a hearing today of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science & Transportation, U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) demanded Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Administrator Stephen Dickson take stronger action to reclaim authority over safety oversight it has previously delegated to aircraft manufacturers. Yesterday, Blumenthal met with the parents of Samya Rose Stumo, one of the hundreds of victims of the Boeing 737 MAX crashes last year. Michael Stumo will testify later in today’s hearing.

“The fact of the matter is that the FAA has been complicit in these crashes by failing to do more diligent oversight,” Blumenthal said. “The FAA has to do the work, not just oversee it. It has to perform work that involves certification.”

Earlier this year, Blumenthal and U.S. Senators Edward J. Markey (D-MA), Tom Udall (D-NM), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), and Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) introduced the author of the Restoring Aviation Accountability Act to revamp oversight of the aviation industry to prioritize consumer safety.

“I see no way you can continue in this job if you fail to be more responsive to this Committee. And I think it begins today with a commitment to end that culture of secrecy to commit to major reforms of the kind that the Chairman and Ranking Member have suggested in their legislation,” Blumenthal said. “I welcome it because it includes stronger protections for whistleblowers such as I suggested in the reform proposal that I advanced with support from Senators Markey, Udall, Warren, and Feinstein. Not only protection for whistleblowers but minimum qualifications for the engineers performing work on behalf of the FAA, targeted audits of ODA units, addressing concerns about compensation and bonuses for meeting performance goals.”

The Restoring Aviation Accountability Act effectively reverses the provisions enacted by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Reauthorization Act of 2018, which allowed the aviation industry to regulate many of its own certification processes. As a result, Boeing’s automated system MCAS, which has been widely recognized as the cause of the deadly Boeing 737 MAX 8 crashes, was never fully analyzed by the FAA while Boeing downplayed its risks.

Among a number of reforms, the Restoring Aviation Accountability Act would:

• Establish a commission to review the current FAA safety delegation program (ODA) to determine and evaluate if alternative certification programs would provide more robust oversight.
• Increase the accountability measures of the current safety oversight system by requiring that pay, compensation, and bonuses for officers and employees of the FAA are not contingent on delivery of airplanes, the number of aircraft certified, or the number of audits completed. Prohibits safety certification system employees of manufacturers from having performance standards tied to delivery of aircraft.
• Require a comprehensive, independent audit of ODA practices, safety management, and the organization management team responsible for overseeing the ODA holder at least once every three years, regardless of the length of time that the entity has been an authorized ODA holder.
• Establish an independent panel to review each aircraft type certificate every five years, as well any amendment to an existing type certificate, and make recommendations about whether the application for a new type certificate is warranted. This provision would also require the Administrator to review the panel’s recommendations to determine whether the aircraft is airworthy or if the manufacturer needs to to apply for a new type certificate.
• Bolster whistleblower incentives and protections in the aviation industry for employees, contractors, and subcontractors of aircraft manufacturers, aircraft repair stations, and the FAA by providing whistleblowers with access to court for a jury trial and monetary incentives for information that leads to a successful resolution of a complaint.

Blumenthal has raised numerous concerns regarding the aviation industry’s ability to “self-regulate,” writing directly to Boeing and calling for an Inspector General (OIG) investigation to audit the process by which the FAA certified the Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft. The full text of Blumenthal’s letter to the DOT OIG is available here.

In an October hearing of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science & Transportation, Blumenthal questioned Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg over internal Boeing emails showing the company knowingly concealed fatal MCAS system from pilots and then blamed “pilot error” for the tragic Boeing 737 MAX crashes. Blumenthal also pressed Muilenburg for a firm commitment to support reform efforts to restore oversight of aviation safety to federal regulators. When Muilenburg refused to answer, Blumenthal pressed him, saying, “I’m not asking you for a hard look. I’m asking you for a commitment here because you have the opportunity to make things right.” 

-30-