US aviation authority admits they should have controlled Boeing more

The head of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) of the United States, Michael Whitaker, admitted this Thursday that his agency should have supervised the aircraft manufacturer more closely. Boeingwhich is in the spotlight for various incidents involving its devices.

“We should have had a better view of what was happening at Boeing before January 5 and the approach was too hands-off and focused on paperwork rather than inspections”he said before the US Senate Commerce Committee.

His appearance, which is not his first in Congress, occurred again as a result of the incident on January 5, the day in which a Boeing 737 Max 9 from the Alaska Airlines fleet had to return to the ground in Oregon at losing an emergency door panel in the air.

Whitaker appeared to talk about the supervision exercised by the FAA about the manufacturer.

Since what happened, he added, the strategy has changed: “We have added more security inspectors to closely monitor” and increased control includes additional inspections at critical points in the production process, he said.

The administrator specified that these changes are “permanent” and stressed that his new supervision plan is more active and comprehensive.

After the incident on January 5, which caused no fatalities, the FAA gave to Boeing 90 days to present a plan to solve quality problems in the production of its aircraft.

This roadmap, presented at the end of May, includes, as the company itself said then, “large investments to expand and improve training” workforce, simplification of the manufacturing process and “the elimination of defects at their source”.

That same day the FAA warned Boeing that it will not authorize new production increases beyond the current quota until the aeronautical company’s safety plan is satisfactorily implemented.

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