The FAA closed its eyes and ears in response to pressure from Boeing about the Boeing 737 Max and the two crashes were the “horrific result” of a whole chain of errors by the manufacturer and “grossly inadequate supervision” by the FAA. This is the conclusion of the almost 250-page report by the committee of inquiry in the Chamber of Deputies.

The FAZ writes that the final report would confirm the findings so far, but further frightening details have come to light. For example, numerous Boeing employees would have known about the deficiencies, but they would have been systematically covered up and downplayed. The latter always occurred when engineers raised their concerns. On the other hand, only a few are said to have actually known about the gross shortcomings in the MCAS system.

The committee of inquiry also found that manufacturer Boeing allegedly put massive pressure on the FAA. As a result, legitimate concerns were ignored and a rapid type approval was granted instead. The report also notes that Boeing was under massive pressure on Airbus as the A320neo range was selling better. They really wanted to have an answer and to outdo the Europeans. A “culture of disguise” established itself around obvious problems with the Boeing 737 Max. The Committee of Inquiry is also of the opinion that Boeing must undertake a fresh start in terms of safety culture. The manufacturer's influence on the FAA is said to have been so great that its own auditors ignored these concerns and instead granted Boeing's request. The consequence of this is that no serious and independent pre-approval test has taken place. The authors of the report are particularly hard on the MCAS automatic, because the manufacturer had not sufficiently informed customers or pilots about it.

An absolutely remarkable fact is that the investigation report was only signed by Democratic MPs. Those members of Congress who are Republicans have refused to sign. According to local media reports, this is primarily due to party political causes.