The U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) has created a Special Committee of industry experts to review the procedures used by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to certify new aircraft.
The FAA has been under major fire since crashes of two Boeing 737 MAX aircraft forced grounding or bans of the aircraft in dozens of nations. Critics have pressed the agency for answers as to how the issues which caused the crashes somehow escaped the notice of FAA regulators. Now, this special committee, which currently consists of Air Force General (Ret.) Darren McDew, former head of the U.S. Transportation Command and Captain Lee Moak, former President of the Air Line Pilots Association, as co-chairs, may find answers.
“Safety is the number one priority of the Department, and this review by leading outside experts will help determine if improvements can be made to the FAA aircraft certification process,” Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao said.
The committee is an entity independent of existing government structure. Their findings and recommendations will go directly to Chao and to FAA Administrator Daniel Elwell.