Good morning. Today that committee convenes to a hearing on the faa oversight of aircraft certification i welcome our witnesses mr. Dixon and mr. Steele father sonja who tragically died plate three oh two and we thank them for participating. March 10 mark the oneyear anniversary of the crash of Ethiopian Airlines three oh two which was preceded by the p loss of flight 602. The aircraft involved in both accidents was the boeing 737 and max are deepest sympathies continue to go out to the families those loved ones who are among the 346 souls lost in these questions. Since the Ethiopian Airlines crash the committee has heard from many whistleblowers at the faa and boeing in the Aviation Industry. It is increasingly clear from our investigation the faa has a number of Serious Problems address. My investigation staff is interviewed dozens of witnesses many thousands of documents and emails and diligent pursuit of the facts. No matter where they lead i must express my profound frustration with the agencies lack of responsiveness to my requests dating back to last april for documents that stem from whistleblower disclosures. Iapril 2nd 2019 then acting administrator i sent a letter requesting information about certification of the faa safety inspectors following the responses to the initial request come i sent a followup letter to the acting administrator. Requesting information and then retaliation my managers. And with the subject matter of todays hearing i would note that 12 the the request that faa has not responded to pertain directly to the 737 mac certification which is the subject of todays subject matter the department of transportation and the council to identify and which they were responsive to and whether that production had a complete responses has been reiterated several times the not consistently followed the committee has made every effort to document production back in september 2019 the committee had a prioritized list of the ten most significant request, tend. To love these were emphasized again on december 182019 over the course of nine months we have received completed responses to those requests and six of them and no response at all to the top tenen items. And in one case staff requested emails between two faa employees during a short period of time agency provided a response to include a specific email be were pursuing and then narrowing was required to have a specific email the faa still additionalduced emails that i requested jul jut 2019. Today is june 17 we have not received any documents since aph of this year lack of timely and completely responses force that Committee Staff for those interviews. Sen. Roger wicker on the feasibility of our written interrogatories april 30th almost a month later. When they stated that in person, virtual interviews were a preferred. On may 5th, as a result of deity rejecting for a derogatory approach, the Committee Staff requested to interview the next faa deploying. Onga may 11, dmt staff stated ty were working to make the next interviewee available. That was my fifth. As of today, june 17, 2020, Committee Staff has on her back on when this interview can take place. Administrator dixon and our conversation must thursday, i raised a number of these. And spoke of our entire frustration generally for you, since your team would work with my staff quickly get back on track. I am extremely disappointed that we have not been instant progress since that phone call mr. Stephen dickson. My staff followed up immediately. In the request was acknowledged the note to which was made up a meeting. Last friday evening, my staffte reiterated the request. And provided comprehensive list of all outstanding requests pretty mighty mouse to schedule a call on monday. And it was denied. But your team offered to meet this thursday. Tomorrow. One day after this hearing. The entire purpose the large purpose of meeting was to get answers before this hearing. It is my understanding that last night, after my staff insisted the call. But no progress was made on resolving the multitude of outstanding issues. This record of delay and non responsiveness, clearly shows the unwillingness to cooperate in the congressional oversight. It is hard not to conclude your team at the faa has deliberately attempted to keep us in the dark. By that the main our investigation staff, our committee, and me. It is hard not to characterize our relationship during this entire process as being adversarial on the part of the faa. Administrator Stephen Dickson, i hold you responsible is ahead of the agency. I asked this question as we ask, ifi confirmed, will you pledge o work collaboratively with this committee and provide early and timely responses. You answered yes as we recall. As we require all nominees to do. The lack of cooperation by your agency calls into question the commitment behind that pledge. We areto not embarking on a fishing expedition. Request for documents, and interviews, have been very specific in content and reasonable in scope. I canxp only assume that the agency stone walling of my investigation suggests its comfort for what might ultimately be revealed. I expect to receive an explanation today at this hearing. For the failure to comply with the committees request. An omission part of the committees investigation involves the 737 max. Following the airlines crash, the faa groundd the fleet of 737 max airplanes. Over a year later the plane has still not been clearedaa to return to passenger service. The faa a, boeing and International Regulators involved in the recertification process, to take whatever time is needed to get the recertification right. As the recertification continues, the number of reviews including this committees investigation raise concerns about how the max was designed and certified. Hoand the nature of the relationship between the faa and boeing. The faa needs to hold accountable anyone at the agency or yvonne, who broke the rules are fell short of meeting expectations. Last october this clooney was the first of capital hill to convene anct Oversight Committee and with boeing leadership. Today we will hear from the administrator Stephen Dickson during the process. The steps that the agency is doing to save flight and the agency can help prevent future tragedies. The max recertification is a critical component of rebuilding public and International Trust in the faa. For the next creches, the faa was the unquestioned Gold Standard with regards to aviationon safety. Congress g has an Important Role to play in helping restore the confidence in the agency. As a result of the committees investigations, and the safety board from the joint authorities technical review and from the department of transportation, Ranking Member caswell and i have worked hard together and have legislation in their care act safety certification are meant to approve aviation safety. Our legislation creates for manufacturers. Reforms the organizations design authorization. Increase new emphasis on understanding how pilots interact with modern aircraft. Another Human Factors. Enhances and protection for whistleblowers and vultures congressional oversight. This monday, the day before yesterday, the Ranking Members have requested to be around. To strike. And despite this request, we are able to accommodate such a request by adding a second panel for. I look forward to details discussion of the faa aircraft certification process and how it can be improved so that these tragedies do not happen. I also expect an explanation of the agencies unwillingness to respond to this committees request for information. And out recognize my friend, and calling and Ranking Member senator cast well for her Opening Statement. Thank you for your statements. I want to say as Ranking Member understand that i we stand with you for anyo information reques. An effort to get the faa to comply with what the majority has been requesting. So thank you for that segment freedom to take a moment to recognize the families who have lost loved ones in ethiopia tragedies. I can imagine the loss of life and the pain that you are still feeling. I appreciate your vigilance. And they often attend the hearings and comment on Safety Measures before this committee. They cant be easy to continue that role that we thank you for doing it. All of the voices in these efforts to make are important. I also look forward to hearing testimony from mike. We have to get this right. For his daughter and the 346 victims of those crashes. Todays discussion is about leadership. Our about americas leadership in aviation safety. Safety is job one. In a critical sector that employs 2. 5 million people. 150,000 in the state of washington pretty safety is job one because it involves so many lives. The Leadership Task again begins with the faa and you administrator Stephen Dickson. We look forward to hearing how you look to build to improve safety in response to these two accidents. There have been numerous reports issued since the accident and unfortunately the faa response to a number of those investigations concerning the math, seemed more of the status quo than the needed changes that we want to see at the faa. Sen. Maria cantwell no matter what the structure of the faa, it must be clear that it is an independent agency with oversight of certification. We need to have the best more force which i believe we do in the northwest. But we must have experts and investigators, that are qualified and technically trained at the faa to oversee and sufficient manner the compliance process. Theres a lot of discussion about wall t street and the approach to aviation a value engineering. Im going to tell you something northwest. The pride ofti the northwest, is about innovation and solid engineering. And solid engineering advancements. It is not about doing things on the quick. Itit is about doing things deliberately and getting safety right. I want to see at certification process where we are listening to those engineers at the beginning of the process who are calling out some of these safety issues. They faa management needs to be willing to back up those engineers on the ground for calling out safety concerns at the earliest phases of the process. Not at the end and certainly not after certification. The faa system of delegation dates back to 1958. Actually can trace back to 1927 private doctors were conducting private healthck checks. However, is the faas own action taking authority in the delegation of manufacturer protectintechnical approval of t started in 2005 under the oba system. Under this program the industry engineer on behalf of the faa. These lines of oversight in communication were fragmented. I believe and i think the chairman believes as well, we need a system of certification where hardworking engineers ad engineering safety as driving the certification process. Not the other way around. We can have planes certified and then after the certification have them grounded because of unsafe features. A technical review by the International Safety authorities joint Authority Technical review identified the number of problems with the oba problem in faa oversight pretty specifically the need for a more holistic review and the fact that engineering expertise needed to have open Communication Systems and the Technology Level of the Technical Expertise level of those engineers needs to be there. So mr. Stephen dickson today i hope we will hear about what the faa will need to reform in this program. What reforms of those suggested by the chairman wicker and myself do you support. I dont want to thank chairman wicker and esteem and my team. On think them for working so collaboratively with us in a hardworking introducing this legislation that the chairman just mentioned. I believe it does fundamentally change the way the faa oversees the certification of large commercial aircraft. Specifically, our built aircraft and certification act of 2020 come will revamp the oda and make sure that the faa stays in the driver seat of certification. Under our belt, thend faa once again be responsible for directly appointing and approving the engineer to pass out this certification on behalf of thehe administration. The fa will have people safely monitor these designees. And we also create amm new whistleblower protection of fortify the channels of communication and reporting safety. Critically, arkville will end any semblance of self certifications by appealing sections that would give the faa Additional Authority under specific provisions. Our bill also requires of limitation of the intestacy safety automation in part a response as well as Safety Management systems for air crafting manufacturers. I believe the standards would address these issues of multiple flight alerts, and the need for Pilot Training. So i want to thank senator duckworth for her work with me on this legislation. Maybe patient Human Factors safety act. The faa must keep pace with the skills, and have the technical capacity to handle an increasingly complex aircraft technology. Automation is certainly health safety, but the amount of automation and control demand is can be confusing particularly when only have seconds to respond. So understanding the interactions between Human Technology and operationle environment, is becoming more critical to safety. In aviation. That is whyet the bill also establishes a center of excellence or fly to automation and Human Factors and creates an office of the faa office of continuing education and training to make sure that those inspectors maintain and keep the expertise necessary to do the oversight but is required by the faa. We also need technical advisors to address these developing new technologies. With technology changing, building skills is important. On think senator moran for introducing the foreign civil assisting capacity act which will increase global pilots standards in faa bilateral to improve Pilot Training. The United States needs to be loud and clear that we want to see strong chairmanship. That is to say a pilot need to be able to fly the plane without the automation. And i hope that ween and you wil help lead that effort of an international basis. They also need a strong aviation workforce for the future. And that is why i have partnered with senator blunt that grand Fellowship Program of 2020 which will create narrow space policy fellowship and leaders for the future act. Its clear the race for aviation around the globe is on. So we cannot have that race of competition drive us away from a solid safety and certification regime. The solution to that competition i believe, is to hire and retain the best Safety Experts that we can find. So is look forward to hearing e ways in which you believe the faa needs to improve process worried and again i want to thank chairman wicker for his leadership on the bill that we just introduced. Thank him for his focus on this issue. We do need to hand hold manufacturers accountable for compliance and Safety Standards through the process. I look forward to continuing to work with them on that. We need to have certain design features that we know are compliant with the standards. No one wants to see a process where at the end of the process, it is not clear that the data indicates actual compliance. Ill have many questions about this. So mr. Stephen dickson, we are looking forward to the leadership that you will provide in addressing these issues. Safety has been paramount. In the faa has to be independent read so thank you for being here and i look forward to hearing ndfrom both our witnesses. Thank you mr. Chairman. Administer dickson, im sure you will want to respond to the statements made. But specifically, just to reiterate, my investigative staff began this effort on july 31st of last year. As i pointed out we received no response. Over half of the items requested. Even after we narrowed down the scope of our request significantly. There has been a lack of cooperation. So please explain to the committee your position in this regard. Then we will have followup questions also read. Stephen dickson good morning mr. Chairman. Members of the committee. Thank you for inviting me here. You have an Opening Statement. Feel free to summarize that in five minutes also. I neglected that separate is someplace pretty. Stephen dickson yes are. Thank you for inviting me here today to speak with you about the faas oversight of aircraft certification and to provide you with an update on the 737 max. But first i want to assure the families of those who lost their lives, and the open airlines and that you and your loved ones are foremost in our thoughts. Think of you every day. And is good to see michael and not in the other family members with us this morning. Lessons learned from these accidents willing to increase safety worldwide. Our pledges not only in words, but in the implementation of tangible and lasting improvements that will result in part the observations of recommendations weve received from many review bodies including this Committee Read it before he the focus of the hearing, i like to take a moment to address some of the challenges the Aviation Industry is based rated for the Ongoing Public Health emergency. Aviation employees have worked diligently these past months despite the risk to themselves. To safely transport passengers and much needed supplies. Now the traveler