US: FAA chief accused of stonewalling Senate MAX probe

Senators from both parties accused the top US aviation regulator of stonewalling Wednesday on inquiries into the 737 MAX crashes as they introduced legislation to revamp the plane certification process. Senator Roger Wicker, a Mississippi Republican who chairs the Commerce Committee, said FAA staff had ignored numerous requests for information about the MAX, which has been grounded since March 2019 following two crashes that killed 346 people. Wicker pointed to cases where his staff, at FAA's request, had narrowed requests to emails on specific dates involving specific parties and the agency had still not been forthcoming. "It's hard not to conclude that your team at FAA has deliberately attempted to keep us in the dark," Wicker told FAA chief Steve Dickson. "Agency stonewalling suggests discomfort for what might ultimately be revealed." Although much has been learned about the MAX following myriad investigations, there are still questions about provocative documents that have surfaced over the months. These include an internal FAA risk analysis after the first Boeing crash that said the MAX could suffer as many as 15 catastrophic accidents over its lifetime. Dickson was unable to offer new information on that document or other disclosures, but said he was "committed" to oversight.<br/>