FATAL DISTRACTION

Federal Aviation Administration Misled Congress Over Boeing 737 MAX Inspector Qualifications: Report

A new report claims safety inspectors working on training Boeing 737 MAX pilots were “under-qualified” and the aviation agency lied about it to Congress.

Investigators examining a Federal Aviation Administration whistleblower complaint have found that the federal agency misled Congress, The Washington Post reports. The complaint charges that safety inspectors who worked on training requirements for Boeing 737 MAX pilots were “under-qualified” and that the FAA provided misleading information about the problem to Congress. The complaint calls into question the FAA’s transparency and safety oversight, which has come under new scrutiny after a pair of fatal accidents involving Boeing 737 MAX jets that killed 346 people. Recent findings show the FAA had handed Boeing autonomy on a number of tasks that it should have overseen. Both Boeing and the FAA have faced increasing criticism that they had not adequately trained pilots to handle an allegedly faulty automated system on the 737 MAX jets.