With its ties in Washington, Boeing has taken over more and more of the FAA's job
By Michael Laris March 24 at 9:28 AM
Four weeks before a Lion Air jet plunged into the Java Sea in October, Congress passed little noticed provisions that gave the plane’s maker, Boeing, even more power to oversee itself, demonstrating the company’s sway in Washington.
It was another win in Boeing’s long-running, highly effective campaign to get the federal government to delegate more and more of the Federal Aviation Administration’s safety responsibilities to the company. It also was a reflection of the inherent difficulties of having a government workforce oversee the design and production of some of the world’s most sophisticated machines.
Federal investigators are scrutinizing whether the FAA failed to properly watch over Boeing, which has scrambled to make software fixes after two of its 737 Max 8 jets crashed within five months of each other. But the obscure provisions in the new law show how advocates in Congress considered the process that certified the planes to be too cumbersome.
The U.S. manufacturing giant has spent decades building deep ties across Washington. President Ronald Reagan’s chief of staff, Kenneth M. Duberstein, sits on Boeing’s board of directors. So does Caroline B. Kennedy, President John F. Kennedy’s daughter and the former ambassador to Japan.
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https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/trafficandcommuting/with-its-ties-in-washington-boeing-has-taken-over-more-and-more-of-the-faas-job/2019/03/24/6e5ef2c6-4be8-11e9-9663-00ac73f49662_story.html
