Deception, faulty assumptions alleged in report on Boeing jet crashes, says Congress

*Boeing engineers’ failures, corporate deception and significant errors in government oversight led to two fatal crashes of the 737 Max jets ─House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee

Isola Moses | ConsumerConnect

While yet battling to return its 737 MAX jet model to the sky, the US Congressional investigators have concluded that extensive failures by the Boeing Company engineers, deception by the company, and significant errors in government oversight led to the two fatal crashes of the 737 Max jets.

The Boeing Company is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, telecommunications equipment, and missiles worldwide.

It was learnt that the Congress, in a 245-page report issued Wednesday, September 16 provides the most biting account so far of the miscalculations that led to 346 deaths, the grounding of Boeing’s best-selling jet, and billions of Dollars in losses for the manufacturing giant, says agency report.

The House of Representatives Transportation and Infrastructure Committee in the report said: “The Max crashes were not the result of a singular failure, technical mistake or mismanaged event.

“They were the horrific culmination of a series of faulty technical assumptions by Boeing’s engineers, a lack of transparency on the part of Boeing’s Management and grossly insufficient oversight by the” Federal Aviation Administration.

According to report, the House report is the result of five investigative hearings, a review of about 600,000 pages of documents, interviews with top Boeing and FAA officials and information provided by whistle-blowers.

It was gathered that the submission makes the case for broad changes in the FAA’s oversight of the aircraft industry.

The report offers a more searing version of events than the sometimes technical language in previous crash reports and investigations, including one conducted by the Transportation Department’s Inspector-General.

The conclusions were drawn by the majority staff under Committee Chairman Peter DeFazio.

The report cites five main reasons for the crashes, including pressures to update the 737’s design swiftly and inexpensively; faulty assumptions about the design and performance of pilots; and what the report called a “culture of concealment” by Boeing.

Other factors are inherent conflicts of interest in the system that deputises Boeing employees to act on behalf of the government; and the company’s sway over top FAA managers.

Boeing advanced less than 1% to $164.44 at 10:36 a.m. in New York, reversing losses from earlier in the session.

The shares fell 50% this year through Tuesday, the largest decline on the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

The Committee Chairman said that he found it “mind boggling” that Boeing and FAA officials concluded, according to the report, that the plane’s design had complied with regulations in spite of the crashes.

DeFazio stated: “The problem is it was compliant and not safe ─ and people died,” he said. “Obviously, the system is inadequate.”

Lawmakers are drafting legislation designed to reform how the FAA oversees companies such as Boeing and reviews aircraft designs.

The Senate Commerce Committee plans to vote on a bipartisan bill on Wednesday. DeFazio, an Oregon Democrat, hasn’t yet unveiled his legislation.

Meanwhile, Republican leaders on the House Committee have taken issue with the report’s findings.

They said that the findings represented partisan overreach that went beyond what other reviews have found.

A joint statement from Sam Graves of Missouri and Garret Graves of Louisiana said: “Expert recommendations have already led to changes and reforms, with more to come,” “These recommendations ─ not a partisan investigative report ─ should serve as the basis for Congressional action.”

Boeing said in a statement it had cooperated with the committee’s investigation and had taken steps at the company to improve safety.

The company said: “We have learned many hard lessons as a company from the accidents of Lion Air Flight 610 and Ethiopian Flight 302, and from the mistakes we have made.

“Change is always hard and requires daily commitment, but we as a company are dedicated to doing the work.”

The FAA in a statement late Tuesday night also said that it was committed to working with the committee to make improvements.

“We are already undertaking important initiatives based on what we have learned from our own internal reviews as well as independent reviews of the Lion Air and Ethiopian Airlines accidents,” stated the agency.