FAA Criticizes Boeing Over 737 MAX Messages -- Update
18 Octobre 2019 - 7:46PM
Dow Jones News
By Doug Cameron and Andy Pasztor
U.S. aviation regulators said Friday that two Boeing Co.
employees sent "concerning" messages regarding the certification of
the 737 MAX that were brought to their attention only this
week.
The Federal Aviation Administration said Boeing flagged the
instant messages late Thursday, even though the aerospace giant had
discovered them "some months ago."
"Boeing alerted the Department of Transportation to the
existence of instant messages between two Boeing employees,
characterizing certain communications with the FAA during the
original certification of the 737 MAX in 2016," the FAA said in a
statement.
FAA Administrator Steve Dickson said in a letter to Boeing Chief
Executive Dennis Muilenburg on Friday that he expected an immediate
explanation of the contents and delay in disclosure, according to
the agency.
The announcement by the FAA comes as the agency and other
regulators prepare to reassess the MAX following software and
training changes implemented in the wake of two fatal crashes that
have grounded the global fleet for more than seven months.
The agency didn't identify the two Boeing employees or the
content of the messages, but said it is deciding what action to
pursue.
"The FAA finds the substance of the document concerning," it
said in a statement. "The FAA is also disappointed that Boeing did
not bring this document to our attention immediately upon its
discovery."
Boeing shares were recently down more than 3%, with earlier
losses increasing after the FAA released its statement.
The FAA said it had shared the document with Congress, with Mr.
Muilenburg due to testify before a House committee on the MAX on
Oct. 30. Boeing faces multiple probes into the development of the
737 MAX. The U.S. Department of Justice, working in conjunction
with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Transportation
Department's inspector general's office, is investigating how the
737 MAX aircraft was developed and certified, according to people
familiar with the matter. Boeing has said that it is cooperating
with the various investigations.
In preparation for the hearing at the end of the month, the
House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee has collected
hundreds of thousands of pages of documents from Boeing. Many of
those documents deal with the FAA's certification of the 737 MAX
but none of them have been made public so far. Committee staffers
have been negotiating with Boeing's lawyers about making some of
the documents public at the hearing, according to people familiar
with the matter. No final agreement has been reached.
The agency said it planned to provide additional documents to
lawmakers later Friday.
Write to Doug Cameron at doug.cameron@wsj.com and Andy Pasztor
at andy.pasztor@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
October 18, 2019 13:31 ET (17:31 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2019 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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