The FAA's 737 MAX crisis is adding urgency to the confirmation of a permanent leader for the agency, some Senate Commerce Committee members said this week — but Chairman Roger Wicker said he plans to meet with President Donald Trump’s nominee “in due course.”
“I would think it wouldn’t be too long,” the Mississippi Republican said about setting up a meeting with Steve Dickson, who was most recently senior vice president of flight operations at Delta Air Lines. Wicker said he didn’t yet know when his committee will hold a hearing on Dickson’s nomination.
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The White House announced last month that Trump planned to nominate Dickson, but it hasn’t yet said that it has formally sent Dickson’s nomination to the Senate.
The fatal crashes of two Boeing 737 MAX 8 planes in Indonesia and Ethiopia have brought a new level of scrutiny to the FAA, from lawmakers' questions about the agency's delegation of aircraft-certification duties to a reported criminal probe by a federal grand jury and the FBI. Wicker's panel announced Tuesday that it has opened an inquiry into whistleblower complaints that some aviation safety inspectors, possibly including those who evaluated the MAX 8, weren't properly trained and certified.
Commerce Committee member Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) said he hopes the aftermath of the crashes provides extra incentive to confirm Dickson.
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“I think he’s very qualified, and hopefully there’s a sense of urgency given what’s going on,” said Thune, who was the committee's chairman for four years before becoming Senate majority whip.
Another committee member, Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), agreed. “This I think is something we might be able to do on a bipartisan basis,” he said.
Dan Elwell has been running the FAA as acting administrator for more than a year. He has said the move to ground the 737 MAX 8 and 9 across the United States was his decision, and committee members grilled him about that determination, the FAA's certification of the MAX and other issues at a hearing last week.
Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) said he thought Elwell did "well" at that hearing. Moran also said that while he believes “there’s value in having a confirmed administrator” in place at the FAA, “we are in the middle of an investigation” and Elwell “has been fully engaged in these issues.”
But Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), who has been one of the FAA's most vocal critics since the Ethiopian Airlines crash on March 10, said it’s time for fresh blood at the top of the agency. On the other hand, Blumenthal said, lawmakers also need to press Dickson on how he plans to lead the agency and how he would handle the crisis.
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“There is a need for new leadership, clearly,” Blumenthal said. “And we know almost nothing about the views of this nominee on relevant issues.”
Blumenthal also said he wants broader “reforms” of the FAA’s certification process.
“There is an issue of leadership, and the only way to solve it is in part by appointment of a new leader,” Blumenthal said. “But there have to be structural changes as well, reforms in the way the FAA does business — taking back the safety certification authority that it has delegated, requiring that safety features be made standard, revising the definition of changes in the aircraft models that require ... training mandates.”
Tanya Snyder contributed to this report.
