District 5 Diary: A cozy relationship

Clay Bennett

In today's NY Times:

To the Editor:

As a lifelong safety engineer, I am horrified by the events leading President Trump and the F.A.A. to finally ground the 737 Max 8 fleet.

The relationship of the regulatory oversight guaranteeing the safety of travel and the companies involved — the regulated — represents a failure to establish and maintain an adequate safety culture.

You describe in “Pressure on U.S. to Cease Flights of Troubled Jets” (front page, March 13) an appeal by the head of Boeing directly to President Trump not to take this action. You describe how Boeing and others are allowed by the F.A.A. to choose their own employees to help certify their planes “to help the F.A.A. stretch its limited resources.”

A former head of the National Transportation Safety Board is quoted as saying: “It’s a very cozy relationship. The manufacturer essentially becomes both the manufacturer and the regulator, because of the lack of the ability of government to do the job.”

The steps needed now are clear to any layman: The fleet must remain grounded until the N.T.S.B. determines the root cause of the crashes and it is fixed, with approval of a strong and independent regulator.

While this is underway, Congress must investigate the coziness that exists between the F.A.A. and those it regulates.

Gene Hughes

San Francisco