SUMMARY: Boeing is facing new questions about its dealings with federal safety regulators over the grounded 737 MAX jet. At issue are 2016 messages from a Boeing pilot who says he lied to officials about a flight-control system now linked to two deadly crashes. The FAA wants to learn what else Boeing knew about the flaw -- and when. Amna Nawaz talks to David Shepardson of Reuters, who broke the story.
SUMMARY: A preliminary investigation on the crash of Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 concluded a controversial software system did contribute to the downing of the Boeing plane, and the pilots followed manufacturer guidelines to no avail. Boeing said it will release a software update to fix the problem, but how did the FAA approve the plane in the first place? William Brangham talks to Miles O’Brien.
SUMMARY: In the aftermath of a second deadly plane crash, Boeing is trying to reassure the U.S. government and the public that it is addressing the flight control system on its 737 MAX jets. The feature is suspected of a role in the fatal Ethiopian Airlines incident in March as well as an October Lion Air crash. Amna Nawaz reports and talks to science correspondent Miles O’Brien for technical details.
SUMMARY: The recent Ethiopian Airlines crash led to the grounding of Boeing’s 737 MAX planes across much of the globe. But as new details emerge about the cause of the model’s second crash within five months, questions are being raised about how the plane's safety was approved in the first place. John Yang talks to Jeff Wise, a pilot and author of a book about MH370 the flight that vanished in 2014.
SUMMARY: Investigators are combing the debris from Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302, which crashed shortly after takeoff from Addis Ababa Sunday, killing all 157 people aboard. The plane’s black box recorders have been found, but many questions remain about this second crash of a Boeing 737 MAX-8 within a few months. Neil Connery of Independent Television News and science correspondent Miles O’Brien report.
SUMMARY: U.S. aviation experts have convened at the crash site of Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 amid growing global concern about the safety of Boeing’s 737 MAX 8 jet. Although dozens of countries have grounded the planes, the FAA says they're safe. John Yang reports and discusses with Mary Schiavo, a former Transportation Department Inspector General who represents the victims of airline accidents.
SUMMARY: Boeing’s 737 MAX jetliners are grounded across much of the globe -- including the U.S. [This was] Days after other nations banned the plane from flying in their airspace, the FAA, which had as recently as Tuesday night insisted the plane was safe, said new information about Sunday's Ethiopian Airlines crash led it to change course. John Yang reports, and Judy Woodruff talks to Miles O’Brien for analysis.
SUMMARY: Twenty minutes after takeoff, Southwest Flight 1380 had to make an emergency landing. One of the engines had exploded, sending metal fragments into cabin and shattering a window, killing passenger Jennifer Riordan. Pilot Tammie Jo Shults, a former navy pilot, is being praised for how she reacted. Science correspondent and aviation expert Miles O'Brien joins Judy Woodruff to discuss what happened.
SUMMARY: The U.S. Senate took a hard look at airport security after a damning report found that fake explosives, weapons and other banned items went unnoticed in 67 of 70 tests, while another report found that the TSA failed to identify 73 employees with unspecified links to terrorism. Judy Woodruff discusses the lapses with Jack Riley of RAND National Security Research Division.
JUDY WOODRUFF (NewsHour): The U.S. Senate took a hard look at airport safety today and two new accounts questioning the effectiveness of the Transportation Security Administration.
MAN: This Senate hearing will come to order.
JUDY WOODRUFF: The Senate hearing came a week after the leak of a damning report on the TSA’s failures. The federal Department of Homeland Security, TSA’s parent agency, found fake explosives, weapons and other banned items went unnoticed in 67 of 70 tests.
Today, Nebraska Republican Senator Ben Sasse questioned John Roth, the inspector general who wrote the report.
SEN. BEN SASSE, R-Neb.: Do you think it’s possible that TSA really could really have not understood how grave their problem was before last week’s leaked report?
JOHN ROTH, Inspector General, Department of Homeland Security: You know, it’s something that we think about all the time. I mean, do they truly understand the nature of the risk that they face? Candidly, I worry about that.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Others said they’re worried that a push for reduced airport wait times has actually harmed security.
Rebecca Roering is assistant TSA director at the Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport.
REBECCA ROERING, Assistant Federal Security Director, Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport: TSA is handing out pre-check status like Halloween candy in an effort to expedite passengers as quickly as possible, despite self-admitted security gaps that are being created by the process.
SUMMARY: The black box from AirAsia Flight 8501 provided some answers about what caused the crash, but also opened up questions about automation and why mistakes from past accidents haven’t been corrected. Science correspondent Miles O’Brien joins Gwen Ifill to discuss eerie similarities between AirAsia’s flight and past crashes and why the still-missing Malaysia Airlines flight was declared an accident.
GWEN IFILL (NewsHour): Now an update on aviation stories from around the world.
In Malaysia, the government has officially declared the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 last March an accident. In Indonesia, investigators now say the co-pilot was in control when AirAsia Flight 8501 crashed into the Java Sea last month. And U.S. officials are reporting a spike in online threats against major airlines.
I’m joined now by science correspondent Miles O’Brien.
Let’s take these one at a time, Miles.
Declaring this flight an accident, is that something we kind of knew?
MILES O’BRIEN (NewsHour): Yes, we did.
And, really, this is not based on any new information about the investigation. This is more bookkeeping. There are international treaties which require airlines to declare an aircraft missing or an accident or whatever the case may be. And this makes it possible for the victims, for the families to seek redress. And so…
GWEN IFILL: We should remind people, this has never been found, this particular air…
MILES O’BRIEN: That’s correct.
So, I mean, missing is considered an accident, by technical terms. Here we are approaching the one-year anniversary of this event, and I think that it was time to allow these families to move on and seek their claims.
And so, meanwhile, the search continues in the Southern Indian Ocean. That will continue until the weather gets too bad, probably in May or so, but we don’t know anything new. So when people say it’s been declared an accident, remember, it’s based on the same information we have had for quite some time.
