Transportation
FAA Chief Defends Boeing Oversight in Senate Grilling
- Lawmakers raise concerns that FAA is too cozy with Boeing
- Whitaker says agency has taken steps to strengthen oversight
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The top US aviation safety regulator said his agency plans to boost the number of government inspectors placed inside Boeing Co. factories this year as he faced a grilling by lawmakers over the agency’s oversight of the embattled planemaker.
The Federal Aviation Administration aims to have 13 inspectors at Boeing’s 737 Max final assembly plant in Renton, Washington, compared with 11 currently, FAA Administration Michael Whitaker told a Senate panel on Wednesday. It’s part of a broader push to place 55 inspectors on-site at Boeing and its suppliers’ facilities by the end of the year, up from 46 today, he said.