Letter to the Hon. Daniel Elwell, Acting Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration - Schumer Reveals: Amidst Active & On-Going Investigation by Feds Into Recent Plane Crashes, All Signs Point to Boeing Retaining Its Seat on Under-The-Radar Committee Charged with Recommending Airline Industry Regs; Senator Demands Feds Suspend Boeing until Safety Investigation Is Complete & Make Public Whose in On All the Meetings

Letter

Dear Acting Administrator Elwell:

I write today to follow-up on concerns I publicly raised last week concerning Executive Orders, the overall culture of safety at the FAA, and Boeing. Specifically, I want to raise serious concerns and questions related to the Aviation Rulemaking Advisory Committee, also known as ARAC.

Under federal order 1110.119S, you are designated as the "sponsor' of ARAC and the committee reports to you directly through the Associate Administrator for Aviation Safety. While members of ARAC are appointed by the Secretary of Transportation, your role as sponsor warrants a response to questions of transparency, membership and regulatory agenda items.

According to federal law, ARAC meets at least three times annually to "manage administrative issues and address FAA-assigned tasks." In addition, the FAA is charged with publishing agendas, dates, times and locations of any meetings. Despite this charge, only cursory information is available on the FAA website about the committee and Boeing's membership. More concerning, minutes of each and every meeting are unavailable to the public, as is the criteria for membership and a transparent chronicling of how "members' like Boeing are chosen, and the specific recommendations or regulatory agenda items they propose or advance.

Given the serious issues raised recently as it relates to Boeing, and an overall culture of safety at the FAA, I am requesting that your agency meet three deliverables as soon as possible:

1) Suspend and/or update the public on Boeing's membership on the committee known as ARAC;

2) Make public who else sits on the committee (all airline and industry members) and release the minutes of each and every meeting since the Trump administration took office;

3) Commit to reforming the entire FAA committee by examining the member selection process, transparency, and potential conflicts of interest so the public and Congress know who is making regulatory decisions at the FAA-- and for what reasons.

Furthermore, your agency must be tasked with ensuring a far better online access to information as it relates to this committee and any others that include the FAA, airlines and industry.

For example, reports indicate that ARAC has recommended striking at least 300 FAA regulations. These suggestions are not posted online and an update on where they presently exist in the regulatory queue is unavailable for easy access. Congress and the public expect instant access and transparency in order to assess safety concerns and potential conflicts of interest at the FAA.

Please do not hesitate to contact me as it relates to this request or any questions raised by this letter. I look forward to your timely response.

Sincerely,

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