US FAA names experts to review Boeing safety culture after fatal crashes

The FAA said Thursday it had named 24 experts to review Boeing’s safety management processes and how they influence Boeing’s safety culture after two fatal 737 MAX crashes killed 346 people. The panel, which was required by Congress under a 2020 law to reform how the FAA certifies new airplanes, includes MIT lecturer and aerospace engineer Javier de Luis whose sister was killed in a MAX crash, as well as experts from NASA, the FAA, labor unions, Airbus, Southwest, American Airlines, United Airlines, GE Aviation, FedEx Express and Pratt & Whitney. The panel will convene in the coming weeks and have nine months to complete its review and issue findings and recommendations, the FAA said. Congress directed the agency to appoint a panel by 2021, but the FAA missed that deadline. A September 2020 House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee report said the MAX crashes "were the horrific culmination of a series of faulty technical assumptions by Boeing's engineers, a lack of transparency on the part of Boeing's management, and grossly insufficient oversight by the FAA."<br/>