With help from Stephanie Beasley, Tanya Snyder and Kelsey Tamborrino
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— Boeing is now recommending that regulators require new pilot simulator training for the 737 MAX, a momentous reversal that comes 10 months after the aircraft’s grounding.
— A new edition of DOT’s voluntary guidance for automated vehicles will be released today when Secretary Elaine Chao speaks at the annual CES tech conference.
— Amtrak is now facing a lawsuit over its forced arbitration provision for passengers.
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BOEING REVERSES COURSE ON SIMULATOR TRAINING FOR 737 MAX: In another major setback, as well as another concession about its previous failings, Boeing on Tuesday said it would recommend that the FAA require simulator training for pilots before the grounded 737 MAX returns to service. “This recommendation takes into account our unstinting commitment to the safe return of service as well as changes to the airplane and test results,” the company said in a statement, as our Brianna Gurciullo reported.
A setback: If the FAA were to follow through on Boeing’s recommendation, it would again push back the timeline for ungrounding the jet. There are only 34 certified MAX simulators in the world, according to The New York Times, which reported the news shortly before Boeing’s announcement. A simulator training requirement would make it harder for airlines to utilize the MAX even if it is approved to fly again in the next few months, and carriers would have to buy new multimillion-dollar simulators, the Times reports.
A concession: The fact that the MAX didn’t require new simulator training was a major selling point when Boeing was first pitching the plane. “In marketing material detailing the ‘737 Max advantage,’ Boeing emphasized that the plane was similar enough to its predecessor that experienced pilots would not need to be taught in simulators,” Natalie Kitroeff and David Gelles wrote in the Times. The manufacturer’s pivot is another admission that its approach to designing and selling the plane, which was responsible for hundreds of deaths in two crashes in 2018 and 2019, was faulty.
Pilots union caught off guard: The union representing American Airlines pilots told Brianna that it was cut out of talks that resulted in Boeing’s about-face. “We must be at the table when safety and pilot training are served, not pounding on the door,” said Dennis Tajer, a spokesperson for the Allied Pilots Association. Tajer said the union hasn’t yet decided whether to support Boeing’s recommendation, but that it was hard to imagine not supporting more pilot training.
Reaction from the Hill: House Transportation Chairman Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.), who has been critical of Boeing since the crashes, didn’t hold back. “After 346 people and one rescuer tragically died because of their push to not have simulator training, now they’re going to do it — and that’s even with a dumbed-down MCAS system, let alone the extraordinarily powerful and dangerous system they had installed previously. It’s about time,” he told POLITICO.
FAA ISSUES NOTAM AS IRAN CONFLICT RAMPS UP: The FAA on Tuesday night issued flight restrictions prohibiting American civil aviation operators from using the airspace over Iraq, Iran and other parts of the region. “The FAA will continue closely monitoring events in the Middle East,” the agency said in a statement.
BOEING JET CRASHES IN IRAN: A Ukraine International Airlines Boeing 737 — a completely different model than the still-grounded MAX — carrying 180 passengers and crew crashed in Iran early Wednesday local time, according to state news agencies. Minimal information was immediately available, but reports from Iran suggested that there were no survivors. The cause has not been determined. Boeing said late Tuesday that it was gathering more information.
Under normal circumstances, the NTSB would send representatives to the crash site to be part of an Iranian-led investigation. However, given the ongoing tension between the U.S. and Iran, it is unclear if NTSB would be able to participate.
AV 4.0 IS HERE: Chao will unveil the fourth edition of DOT’s guidance for automated vehicles today at CES in Las Vegas, our Tanya Snyder scoops. Plenty has evolved in the development, testing and operation of AVs since the agency’s 3.0 iteration in October 2018. Catch Chao’s announcement on the live-stream at 11:30 a.m. Pacific Standard Time (2:30 p.m. Eastern).
These expressions of DOT principles are historically voluntary and don’t actually require anything of AV developers. There are rulemakings in progress at DOT on removing regulatory barriers to AVs, but this guidance isn’t binding.
AMTRAK FACES LAWSUIT OVER ARBITRATION: The railroad has been scrutinized for its forced arbitration provision for passengers since we reported on it in November, but now it will have to defend itself in a court of law as well as the court of public opinion. As your host reports for Pro subscribers, the progressive consumer advocacy group Public Citizen sued Amtrak on Tuesday, arguing that the provision implemented last January violates the constitution and goes beyond the scope of what Congress authorized the national passenger rail corporation to do. “Because Amtrak is a [government] entity, it is unconstitutional for it to condition rail service on an arbitration agreement,” wrote Public Citizen’s Remington Gregg on Twitter.
Amtrak spokesperson Christina Leeds said the railroad hadn’t received the complaint yet and could not comment on specifics, but the company is confident the arbitration program is in line with requirements set by the Supreme Court that make arbitration legal and constitutional. “Amtrak’s arbitration program benefits our customers by providing a faster and more streamlined process to resolve disputes,” the statement said. “Arbitration is a fair and neutral forum where a customer can receive the same damages and relief to which they would be entitled in a court of law.”
NEPA CHANGES COULD PUSH BURDEN TO TAXPAYERS: The Trump administration is expected to soon announce changes long sought by the energy and construction industries to ease requirements under the landmark National Environmental Policy Act. But those changes to the bedrock law on environmental permitting could end up sharply increasing the financial burden for taxpayers who foot the bill for major disasters, Pro’s Zack Colman reports this morning.
More from the story: A CEQ fact sheet obtained by POLITICO and dated Dec. 20, 2019 — the day OMB closed its review — said the NEPA draft rule would “simplify the definition of environmental ‘effects’ and clarify that effects must be reasonably foreseeable and require a reasonably close causal relationship to the proposed action.”
NOT THIS MONTH: DeFazio told Tanya on Tuesday night that his surface transportation bill won’t be drafted this month. When reminded that he had indicated a bill would be forthcoming in the beginning of the year, he objected: “This is like the beginning of the beginning of the year. We’re talking about the middle of the beginning of the year.” He clarified: “That’s earlier than June but later than January.” He said he hopes to “release more specifics in the not-too-distant future.” (So that’s medium-distant.)
PARTNERS IN TWIC: DHS and the Defense Department helped 261 discharged military members obtain Transportation Worker Identification Credential cards between January 2017 and June 2019, according to a report recently submitted to the House Transportation Committee. A 2017 Defense reauthorization required the departments to help former military apply for the transportation security cards, which are necessary to transition to commercial transportation jobs, and to process those applications within 30 days. DoD said less than 0.05 percent of the 198,000 members that separate from the armed services annually seek TWIC cards but approximately 1.2 million active duty and other members were eligible to apply.
Richard King, a British Royal Navy veteran and aerospace expert, has joined the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International as senior vice president of regulatory and international affairs.
— “Botched predictions, strife with regulators cost Boeing CEO his job.” Wall Street Journal.
— “Cuomo again proposes banning sex offenders from subways.” POLITICO New York Pro.
— “Uber to let riders use pin codes to help identify right car.” Associated Press.
— “Japan seeks arrest of Ghosn’s wife amid efforts to snare him.” Reuters.
— “Delta aims to make Its airline app the latest travel concierge.” Bloomberg.
DOT appropriations run out in 267 days. The FAA reauthorization expires in 1,362 days. Highway and transit policy is up for renewal in 267 days.
