Senate Commerce hearing puts expert panel’s Boeing ODA report at center of push for a stronger FAA safety-management system

Chairwoman Maria Cantwell convened the Senate Commerce Committee on the expert panel’s final report on the Federal Aviation Administration’s organization designation authorization (ODA) arrangements and Boeing’s safety culture, saying Congress must “build on those advancements” and push for a “real SMS with teeth.”

The panel’s co-chair, Dr. Javier de Luise, described nearly a year of document review and interviews — more than 4,000 pages of documents and roughly 250 employee interviews across six plants — and told senators the consistent finding was a gap between Boeing’s stated safety priorities and the experience of technicians and engineers on the factory floor. “They hear safety is our number one priority, but what they see is that that’s only true as long as your production milestones are met,” de Luise said.

That contrast framed much of the questions from senators. Sen. Tammy Duckworth summarized episodes cited by the panel and other investigators — including internal memos that downplayed MCAS and years in which Boeing did not report a malfunctioning angle-of-attack alert — and faulted both the company and, at times,…