Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Chair Maria Cantwell plans further aviation safety oversight following the Alaska Airlines mid-flight door plug blowout on a Boeing aircraft, likely going beyond what Congress typically does for aviation.
On the heels of advancing the committee’s Federal Aviation Administration reauthorization bill, Cantwell, D-Wash., told reporters last week she feels Congress has fallen into a rut of only considering aviation overhauls as part of the reauthorization process. The January incident proves that “we need more sunshine here,” she said, and she intends to hold multiple oversight hearings in the spring that could give way to broader aviation safety and passenger protection legislation.
“We need to start moving towards a process where you move more aviation consumer bills without waiting every five years,” she said. “When you have near misses out here and you have these things happening right now, I want the FAA to do everything they can today.”
