WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., chair of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, has requested the Federal Aviation Administration to conduct a root cause analysis of its oversight of aviation manufacturers, according to an announcement from Cantwell’s office.
In a letter to FAA Administrator Michael Whitaker, Cantwell said she had serious concerns about the FAA’s audits of Boeing and its suppliers, questioning whether the results indicate ongoing production issues or ineffective regulatory oversight.
“While the FAA has rightly focused on Boeing’s production quality shortcomings, I am concerned about whether FAA action — or inaction — contributed to Boeing’s problems,” Cantwell said in the letter. “As the Committee’s 2021 Whistleblower Report detailed, Boeing took full advantage of the FAA’s policies in support of ‘efficiency’ at the expense of regulatory compliance. The report made it clear that the FAA ‘trusted’ Boeing to comply, despite years of evidence to the contrary.”
The letter, sent July 27, follows recent incidents such as on Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 in January, where a door plug created by Boeing blew out in midair, resulting in three injuries. This prompted Cantwell to request a special technical audit of Boeing’s production line, according to the announcement. The audit revealed multiple instances where Boeing and Spirit AeroSystems, which makes fuselages for Boeing’s planes, failed to comply with manufacturing quality control requirements.
