Ethiopian airliner down in Africa

[patplan]

Whistleblowers claim aviation inspectors who evaluated Boeing 737 MAX were poorly trained

April 2, 2019 4:34 pm

The U.S. Senate Commerce Committee is investigating claims by a number of whistleblowers that aviation safety inspectors, including some who worked to evaluate the now-grounded Boeing 737 MAX, were not properly trained or certified, the committee chairman said on Tuesday.

More than 300 Boeing 737 MAX jets have been grounded worldwide after two crashes -- in Indonesia in October and in Ethiopia last month -- killed nearly 350 people.

Senator Roger Wicker, a Republican, said in a letter to the Federal Aviation Administration that the FAA may have been notified about the training and certification concerns as early as August 2018 -- before the Indonesia crash -- citing information from the whistleblowers and documents.

The letter did not disclose if the whistleblowers worked for Boeing, the FAA or another entity. The FAA has come under criticism for delegating some of its certification responsibilities to Boeing and other manufacturers.

In his letter, Wicker asked acting FAA administrator Daniel Elwell to provide answers to detailed questions by April 16...

...Wicker's letter said the whistleblowers alleged that safety inspectors without proper safety training could have been participants on the Flight Standardization Board that evaluated the 737 MAX 8 to "determine the requirements for pilot type ratings, to develop minimum training recommendations, and to ensure initial flightcrew member competency."...

Source:
- https://globalnews.ca/news/5123264/b...histleblowers/