FAA is accused of stonewalling in delivery of Boeing Max documents

Lawmaker: Agency ‘has deliberately attempted to keep us in the dark.’

The chairman of a Senate committee accused the Federal Aviation Administration of stonewalling lawmakers’ attempts to understand how the agency approved a Boeing jet that later suffered two deadly crashes and whether the FAA retaliates against whistle blowers in its ranks.

Roger Wicker, a Republican senator from Mississippi, said Wednesday the FAA has failed to respond to more than half of his committee’s requests for documents, some of them made more than a year ago. The FAA hasn’t turned over anything since April, he said.

Wicker said he holds Stephen Dickson, President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the FAA, personally responsible for creating an adversarial relationship with Congress.

“It is hard not to conclude your team at the FAA has deliberately attempted to keep us in the dark,” Wicker told Dickson during a hearing of the Senate Commerce Committee.

Dickson disputed Wicker’s description of the FAA, but he promised “to redouble our efforts” to cooperate with Congress.

The committee’s top Democrat, Sen. Maria Cantwell of Washington — where Boeing builds the long-grounded 737 Max — joined Wicker in criticizing FAA’s failure to turn over documents. Other

Democrats accused FAA of having a culture of secrecy.

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, pressed Dickson on whether Boeing lied to the FAA about safety concerns around the Boeing plane. Dickson avoided answering directly whether the Chicago manufacturer lied but agreed that the certification process was flawed.

“The manufacturer made mistakes, and the FAA made mistakes in its oversight of the manufacturer,” Dickson said.

This week, Wicker and Cantwell introduced legislation to revamp the FAA’s process for certifying new passenger planes. The bill would change the FAA’s decadeslong policy of relying on employees of aircraft manufacturers such as Boeing to test and analyze safety of key systems. For example, the bill would require FAA — not the companies — to pick those insiders and monitor them more closely.

Dickson said changing who selects company insiders to do safety work “is not something that I believe would add to the safety of the process.” He noted that so-called designees already must meet FAA qualifications and are overseen by FAA inspectors. “It is a trust but verify system,” he said.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., fired back, “The FAA has to do the work, not just oversee it.”

GRAEME JENNINGS / POOL VIA AP Federal Aviation Administration administrator Stephen Dickson appears before the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee on Capitol Hill on Wednesday.