US: FAA’s handling of Boeing 737 MAX issues faulted in DoT review

Safety fixes after the first Boeing 737 MAX crash became snarled in FAA delays and repetitive analyses, wasting any chance US regulators had to prevent the second fatal accident, according to an investigation by the DoT internal watchdog. The 52-page report released Wednesday reiterated previously known lapses by the FAA and Boeing during initial safety approval of the MAX, but it also raised additional questions about the seeming lack of urgency both sides displayed during the five months between the two crashes to develop and implement a safety fix covering the entire fleet. Following the first MAX crash, in October 2018, it took the FAA four months just to agree on a timetable for implementing fixes once they were devised, according to the report by the DOT inspector general. The narrative released Wednesday also revealed that FAA officials spent months conducting an inconclusive internal review of problems with the plane’s original certification. Launched in January of 2019, the review got bogged down in bureaucratic procedures, never got finished and eventually was abandoned when a second MAX went down that March, according to the inspector general. The inspector general’s report provides fresh ammunition for FAA critics in Congress who argue agency officials wasted their chance to act swiftly and decisively to prevent the second, similar MAX crash that occurred less than five months later.<br/>