Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao acknowledged that 'troubling' questions have arisen about the FAA's dealings with industry following two deadly Boeing 737 MAX crashes, but she defended the agency's professionalism amid questions from a Senate panel
Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao acknowledged that "troubling" questions have arisen about the FAA's dealings with industry following two deadly Boeing 737 MAX crashes, but she defended the agency's professionalism amid questions from a Senate panel.
The FAA and the 737 MAX dominated the early questioning from senators this morning, including the FAA’s decision to allow the plane to fly while awaiting a still-unfinished fix to a crucial Boeing software feature that is suspected of causing the October crash of a Lion Air passenger jet in Indonesia. Boeing is still working on the repair, which may have also played a role in the a March 10 crash of a 737 MAX in Ethiopia.
"At the time, FAA did not have any information which mandated or indicated that grounding of these aircraft, 737 MAX 8s, would have to occur," she said. And once the agency received such data, the fleet was ordered grounded, she said. "You can’t have that as optional. Just wrong," Manchin said. "If there's options on a plane that deals with safety, there is a problem. ... [It] should be on it mandatory from the factory if it's about safety."In response to a similar question from Sen. Jack Reed , Chao said she doesn’t think we‘re “there yet” in terms of requiring such alerts to be mandatory equipment.
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