The United States House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure has formally requested interviews with Boeing employees amidst the ongoing committee’s investigation on the Boeing 737 MAX. The request comes after the committee has already been provided with the company’s documents and the perspective of the senior management.
The committee believes that Boeing employees can provide information about the design, development and certification of the 737 MAX, according to the announcement on September 12, 2019. While the company has already provided “substantial documents” and “shared its senior management’s perspective”, the committee calls for Boeing staff to share “unique insight into specific issues and decisions in a way that senior Boeing management simply cannot”, as specified by the announcement.
Boeing chairman and CEO Dennis Muilenburg is urged to make the employees available for interviews “as soon as possible”, as the next committee hearing is planned “in the coming weeks”.
This is the second time the committee is attempting to gather information from Boeing employees, although this time in a different form. Over five months ago, in April 2019, it has issued a call for whistleblowers, addressing, among all, “any current or former” Boeing employees.
“The Committee recently established a whistleblower webpage and is encouraging any current or former officials or employees of Boeing and the FAA who are familiar with the FAA’s aircraft certification program to share any information that would be of interest to the Committee and its investigation into the FAA’s certification of the Boeing 737 MAX,” a call for action stated.