Washington, D.C. — Today, Chair of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure Peter DeFazio (D-OR) and Chair of the Subcommittee on Aviation Rick Larsen (D-WA) released statements after the U.S. Department of Transportation’s watchdog released its report, “Timeline of Activities Leading to the Certification of the Boeing 737 MAX 8 Aircraft and Actions Taken After the October 2018 Lion Air Accident.” Chairs DeFazio and Larsen had urged the Inspector General to open an investigation in the days following the deadly Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 crash in March 2019—the second deadly crash in less than five months involving the Boeing 737 MAX.
“I commend the DOT Office of the Inspector General for agreeing to take on this critically important examination of the FAA’s certification of the Boeing 737 MAX,” Chair DeFazio said. “The more scrutiny we put on Boeing and the FAA, and the more we dig into why and how the system failed so horribly and led to the deaths of 346 innocent people, the better chance we have of fixing the system to ensure no family has to endure this nightmare again. This IG report reinforces some of the findings of our Committee’s ongoing investigation, which has revealed a number of disturbing patterns, including Boeing’s efforts to conceal critical information from regulators in its rush to get the MAX to market. I look forward to not only sharing the full findings from our investigation soon, but also introducing legislation in Congress that will address the multiple failures that led to not one but two horrific tragedies.”
“As Chair of the Aviation Subcommittee, I am working with Chair DeFazio to introduce legislation to address the issues in the FAA’s certification process identified in the DOT Inspector General report and through the Committee’s thorough investigation of the tragic 737 MAX crashes,” Chair Larsen said. “As this work continues, the victims of the 737 MAX crashes and their families, as well as the safety of the traveling public will remain at the forefront.”
Background: As part of its ongoing investigation, the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure has held five public hearings with more than a dozen witnesses, including former Boeing President and CEO Dennis Muilenburg and then-Acting FAA Administrator Dan Elwell; obtained hundreds of thousands of pages of documents from Boeing, the FAA, and others involved in the aircraft’s design and certification; heard from numerous whistleblowers who contacted the Committee directly; and interviewed dozens of former and current employees of both Boeing and the FAA. For information on past hearings, statements, and documents, click here.
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