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US security board to inspect FAA oversight of Boeing

The National Transport Security Board (NTSB) on Wednesday prepares to examine oversight of Boeing after a 737 MAX 9 midair emergency situation in January raised serious safety questions.

The board is holding the 2nd day of an investigative hearing into the door panel blowout in the new Alaska Airlines jet after the very first day focused on Boeing actions before the occurrence.

NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy stated the board needs to know why the Federal Air Travel Administration (FAA) did not act previously.

We have a lot of concerns-- there was information understood, Homendy said about FAA oversight of Boeing, citing defects, missing and incorrect files, as well as inaccurate policies that have been issues for years. This is not brand-new.

Homendy has concerns about FAA audit procedures and whether Boeing previously received advance notification of evaluations and asked if they were too focused on examining documentation.

After the incident, the FAA disallowed Boeing from expanding production beyond 38 aircrafts per month and announced a 90-day evaluation of the planemaker and has needed substantial quality and manufacturing enhancements before it will permit the planemaker to trek production.

FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker stated in June the company was too hands off in Boeing oversight. The FAA's approach before the mid-air mishap was too focused on documentation audits and not focused enough on examinations, Whitaker added.

The FAA said Tuesday that this is not company as normal for Boeing and we will continue to hold them accountable. The company should fix its systemic security and quality-control problems.

Last week Senate Commerce Committee chair Maria Cantwell and Senator Tammy Duckworth introduced legislation to review and strengthen security management systems at the FAA.

Cantwell asked the FAA to perform an extensive evaluation into its oversight of Boeing and said the FAA carried out a combined overall of 298 audits of Boeing and fuselage supplier Spirit AeroSystems over the previous 2 years before the January accident that did not lead to any enforcement actions.

Plainly, they were doing an audit that suggested absolutely nothing, since it didn't find any problems and they said whatever was great, Cantwell stated.

(source: Reuters)