FAA Cuts Boeing a Deal on More 737 Airworthiness Violations?

The Justice Department’s reputation and adherence to law in the Boeing matter was subject to debate in January of 2021 when soon to be ex-president Trump and former Attorney General William Barr shepherded the first 737 Max plea deal.

The Boeing Company will pay at least $17 million in penalties and undertake multiple corrective actions with its production under a new settlement agreement with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The FAA found that the Chicago-based manufacturer installed equipment on 759 Boeing 737 MAX and NG aircraft containing sensors that were not approved for that equipment; submitted approximately 178 Boeing 737 MAX aircraft for airworthiness certification when the aircraft potentially had nonconforming slat tracks installed; and improperly marked those slat tracks.

“Keeping the flying public safe is our primary responsibility. That is not negotiable, and the FAA will hold Boeing and the aviation industry accountable to keep our skies safe,” said FAA Administrator Steve Dickson, omitting the FAA’s role in Boeing’s history of  fraud that resulted in the deaths of 346 passengers who died in the Boeing 737 MAX crashes of Lion Air Flight 610 and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302.*** (Boeing to Pay More Than $2.5 Billion for 737 Max Fraud)

Boeing after its latest breaking of the law now will pay the $17 million penalty within 30 days after signing the agreement, which it did last Wednesday 25 May 2021. If Boeing does not complete corrective actions within specific time-frames, the FAA will levy up to $10.1 million in additional penalties. The actions include but are not limited to:

• Strengthening procedures to ensure that it does not install on aircraft any parts that fail to conform to their approved design.
• Performing Safety Risk Management analyses to determine whether its supply-chain oversight processes are appropriate and whether the company is ready to safely increase the Boeing 737 production rate.
• Revising its production procedures to enable the FAA to observe production rate readiness assessments, the data on which the company bases the assessments, and the results of the assessments.
• Taking steps to reduce the chance that it presents to the FAA aircraft with nonconforming parts for airworthiness certification or a Certificate of Export.
• Enhancing processes to improve its oversight of parts suppliers.

The FAA claims it will continue its oversight of Boeing’s engineering and production activities and claims it is now implementing https://wilmetteinstitute.org/modafinil-online/ oversight provisions from the 2020 Aircraft Certification, Safety, and Accountability Act.  This controversial bill was pushed through as part of huge omnibus spending bill and COVID-19 emergency relief package.

This was a compromise version of the original Aircraft Certification, Safety, and Accountability Act. It calls on the FAA to revise the so-called organization delegation authorization (ODA) process, with a stress on oversight and accountability, to change how it reviews design changes, and, specifically, review the ODA program for Boeing. To the disgust of critics, the final version of the act leaves the ODA concept alone. The FAA did not have to reject or radically overhaul the way it delegates certification processes that led to the 737 Max fatalities.

*** The Justice Departments reputation and adherence to the law in the Boeing matter became subject to considerable debate in January of 2021 when soon to be ex-president Trump and the former Attorney General and Republican lawyer William P. Barr worked out the original 737 Max plea deal.  Barr is known here as no-holds Barr for his relentless interference in Justice Department principles and law-enforcement procedures to protect Trump, aka the Man Who would be King. Boeing, debatably, profited from such interference when the Trump Administration refused to ground the 737 Max despite growing incidents and fatalities. It’s a reasonable bet that Boeing and Barr wanted to cut ties with Trump after he lost the presidential election last November. The 737-certification fraud with resulting deaths settlement compromises were announced as the U.S. Capital was under siege by Trump supporters or treasoners and seditionists who were sent there by Trump and the Republican party to overturn the election that Trump clearly lost.

Boeing under the Biden Justice Department, which started 20 January 2021 after no transition help from the losing Republicans, will pay a total  fine of more than $2.5 billion, made of a criminal monetary penalty of $243.6 million, compensation payments to Boeing’s 737 MAX airline customers of $1.77 billion, and the establishment of a $500 million crash-victim beneficiaries fund to compensate the heirs, relatives, and legal beneficiaries of the 346 passengers who died in the Boeing 737 MAX crashes of Lion Air Flight 610 and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302. The Chicago field offices of the FBI and the DOT-OIG investigated the case, with the assistance of other FBI and DOT-OIG field offices.