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, FAA enforcement. “When the FAA fails to take action in response to bad behavior, it sends an unmistakable message…that bad behavior is acceptable,” Duckworth said.

Panelists and senators traced the problem to fragmented and poorly understood reporting systems, fear of reprisal, and weak organizational authority for human-factors experts. Dr. Tracy Dillinger, who chairs NASA’s safety-culture and human-factors programs, said a robust safety culture requires clear roles, psychological safety, learning loops and visible accountability. “Employees need to know what to do when a deficit has been reported,” Dillinger said.

Panelists recommended several remedies, including making human factors a formal, line-level discipline with authority commensurate to chief engineering and standing up Aviation Safety Action Programs (ASAP) that provide tripartite protections and FAA-level visibility for reported events. The witnesses also urged the FAA to vet ODA organizational structures closely, limit nonemployee and contractor ODA members where their job security could undermine independence, and consider asking Boeing to convert contractor ODA members to stable, full-time positions.

Members pressed for specifics. Senators asked whether frontline workers are empowered to stop an assembly line if they detect defects; de Luise said they are generally not, unless an OSHA-level imminent hazard exists, and that many issues are simply written up and deferred rather than fixed immediately. Senators also pressed the panel on whistleblower outreach; Dr. Dillinger said the panel did not directly interview whistleblowers as part of its charge, and the witnesses described that they heard multiple anecdotal reports of transfers and lost promotions tied to safety reporting.

The panel noted a sharp uptick in internal reporting after the January Alaska Airlines door-plug incident: de Luise said Boeing reported roughly a 500% increase in Speak Up reports after that event, though the panel could not assess the long-term pattern or whether the rise represented improved reporting or a temporary spike driven by publicity.

Several senators emphasized workforce and design-process reforms. Professor Naj Mishpati of USC urged making human factors a central, empowered line function that has a formal seat at design decisions. Members also raised outsourcing and supply-chain risks: witnesses warned that delegation and subcontracting are common, but that outsourced or internationalized production heightens the need for rigorous oversight.

On FAA responsibilities, witnesses urged the agency to establish its own, interlocking SMS so it can appropriately assess manufacturers’ systems, to put more FAA personnel on factory floors, and to use outside expertise such as the National Academies to supplement agency technical capacity. Chair Cantwell said the FAA is working on a rulemaking expected in the months ahead and left the hearing record open for written questions until May 1, with responses due May 15.

The hearing produced no formal votes or directives; senators signaled continued oversight and possible legislative work to ensure implementation of the panel’s 53 recommendations and to strengthen both the FAA’s and manufacturers’ safety-management systems.

The committee adjourned with the panel and senators agreeing on the need for continued scrutiny and follow-up, including queries of the FAA and Boeing in subsequent sessions.