Boeing's faulty technical assumptions and the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) grossly insufficient oversight had led to the two 737 MAX aircraft crashes that killed 346 people, a final report by a Congressional panel concluded on Wednesday
WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 16th September, 2020) Boeing's faulty technical assumptions and the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) grossly insufficient oversight had led to the two 737 MAX aircraft crashes that killed 346 people, a final report by a Congressional panel concluded on Wednesday.
"The MAX crashes were... a horrific culmination of a series of faulty technical assumptions by Boeing's engineers, a lack of transparency on the part of Boeing's management and grossly insufficient oversight by the FAA," US House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure Chair Peter DeFazio and Subcommittee on Aviation Chair Rick Larsen said in the report.
Indonesia Lion Air B737 MAX crash in October of 2018 and the Ethiopian Airlines 737 MAX crash in March of 2019 were primarily caused by Boeing's production pressures and the company's ability to sway FAA's inspectors, the report said.
This combination, along with faulty design and performance assumptions and a culture of concealment ultimately jeopardized the aircraft safety, uncovering repeated and serious failures by both parties to adhere to industry standards, the report said.
"There was tremendous financial pressure on Boeing and the 737 MAX program to compete with Airbus' new A320-neo aircraft," the report said. "Among other things, this pressure resulted in extensive efforts to cut costs, maintain the 737 MAX program schedule and avoid slowing the 737 MAX production line."
DeFazio said an even more troubling finding were revelations of how Boeing escaped scrutiny from the FAA for its technological fixes, withheld critical information from pilots and put planes into service that ultimately lea to the death of innocent people.
"What's particularly infuriating is how Boeing and FAA both gambled with public safety in the critical time period between the two crashes," DeFazio said. "Critically, our report gives Congress a roadmap on the steps we must take to reinforce aviation safety and regulatory transparency, increase federal oversight, and improve corporate accountability to help ensure the story of the Boeing 737 MAX is never, ever repeated."
Boeing said in a statement seen by Sputnik that it has learned many hard lessons from the two 737 MAX crashes and from the mistakes that were made. The company added that it has since made fundamental changes and continues to find ways to improve the safety of its products.
