FAA faces tough questions about Boeing oversight after 737 MAX emergency

The FAA is facing questions about its oversight of planemaker Boeing following the emergency landing on Friday of an Alaska Airlines 737 MAX 9. Mike Whitaker, who took over as the agency's head in late October, will testify before the U.S. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee on Feb. 6, sources said. The hearing was in the works before the Alaska Airlines flight and is expected to cover a broad range of issues. The 737 MAX is certain to come up at the hearing, the sources said. The FAA, which was without a permanent administrator for 18 months until Whitaker's 98-0 confirmation, has come under growing scrutiny after a series of potentially catastrophic near-miss aviation safety incidents, persistent air traffic control staffing shortages and a January 2023 pilot messaging database outage that disrupted 11,000 flights. Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal on Tuesday asked the FAA to answer detailed questions about its handling of the Alaska Airlines incident. The FAA MAX 9 grounding order "is the least that should be done," Blumenthal said, adding he wanted to know "what more the FAA is doing to ensure our skies are safe." Blumenthal added: "This disturbing event is another black mark for Boeing’s 737 MAX aircraft fleet and troublingly, appears to be part of a wider pattern."<br/>