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— The U.S. Office of Special Counsel on Monday released documents related to a whistleblower allegation which suggested serious issues with FAA’s assessment and certification of pilots, and alleged that the agency misled Congress.
— Boeing officially opened a $50 million fund for families of the victims of the two fatal 737 MAX crashes.
— The heads of several transit agencies, including a former FTA administrator, will be on Capitol Hill today to testify at a House hearing.
IT’S TUESDAY: Thanks for tuning in to POLITICO’s Morning Transportation, your daily tipsheet on all things trains, planes, automobiles and ports. Get in touch with tips, feedback or song lyric suggestions at smintz@politico.com or @samjmintz.
“All of the buildings, all of those cars / Were once just a dream / In somebody’s head.”
LISTEN HERE: Follow MT’s playlist on Spotify. What better way to start your day than with songs (picked by us and readers) about roads, rails, rivers and runways.
FEDERAL INVESTIGATORS SAY FAA MISLED CONGRESS: Both federal investigators and an internal DOT investigation substantiated a whistleblower’s claim about serious deficiencies with the FAA’s pilot certification, amid suggestions that the FAA may have misled Congress, according to new documents released by the Office of Special Counsel Monday. In a letter to President Donald Trump, Special Counsel Henry Kerner relayed a whistleblower’s complaint that dozens of aviation safety inspectors (ASIs) responsible for developing pilot type ratings and assessing pilot training lacked the necessary on the job training but issued hundreds of certifications to pilots anyway.
The Special Counsel also said that the FAA, in multiple responses to questions from the Senate Commerce Committee earlier this year, said that the allegations did not relate to any members of the Flight Standardization Board for the 737 MAX. But that was inaccurate, Kerner writes. Both his office and FAA’s internal auditors found evidence that ASIs who woked on the MAX were similarly underqualified.
What it all means: This is a major blow to the FAA’s credibility at a time when it’s facing extreme scrutiny both domestically and abroad (more on that in a moment.) And it will reverberate in Congress, where lawmakers will very likely bristle at the suggestion that the FAA provided false information. Deputy administrator Dan Elwell is due on the Hill on Wednesday to appear before the House Appropriations Committee.
TOP TRANSPO BRASS HEAD TO MONTREAL: The heads of several transportation agencies will make up a formidable U.S. presence at the ICAO meeting in Montreal this week. Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, FAA Administrator Steve Dickson and TSA Administrator David Pekoske will join Thomas Carter, the U.S.’ rep to ICAO, along with experts from all three agencies and the State Department.
The delegation will focus on aviation safety, including addressing automation dependency in the cockpit, as well as security, human trafficking, and transparency at ICAO, according to a press release from State. Bloomberg reports that U.S. regulators will present a paper they wrote with Canada and other countries that urges ICAO to study pilot training needs and minimum standards.
It’s a show of force on an international stage at a time when U.S. aviation regulators are facing scrutiny for their certification of the flawed 737 MAX. Dickson in particular has a busy schedule this week: He spent Monday briefing international safety regulators about the FAA’s progress in reviewing Boeing’s MAX fixes.
Dickson defended his agency’s certification process for the MAX. “We made use of a thorough certification process that has consistently produced safe aviation products,” he said during a meeting with international aviation regulators on Monday, according to prepared remarks. As our Brianna Gurciullo writes, though, “it remains to be seen whether this meeting will again serve to mollify international concerns,” like an earlier meeting in Texas.
LION AIR PUSHES BACK ON UPCOMING CRASH REPORT: Indonesian aviation regulators and Lion Air, the airline involved in the October Boeing 737 MAX crash that killed 189 people, are pushing back on a draft report by safety investigators, Bloomberg reports. Twenty-five of 41 lapses found in the latest draft from Indonesia’s National Transportation Safety Committee are reportedly directed toward the carrier. Boeing, the FAA and ICAO are also faulted in the report, the final version of which is expected in November.
Boeing’s financial assistance fund to aid the families of victims of the Indonesia and Ethiopia MAX crashes officially launched on Monday, with an initial $50 million from the company, which will add another $50 million in broader aid for “impacted communities.” Your MT host has more for Pros.
DOWN GOES COOK: The folding of tour operator Thomas Cook reverberated throughout the travel world, and as POLITICO Europe’s Saim Saeed reports, it could have the U.K.’s Department for Transport saying “I told you so.” He writes: “The department sketched out ideas on how to avoid such a scenario after Monarch Airlines folded two years ago — but those suggestions went nowhere. Now the British government could spend almost £600 million to bring stranded travelers home,” with more than 600,000 passengers stuck.
TODAY ON THE HILL: In addition to the Senate air traffic control reform hearing that we previewed in Monday’s MT, the House Transportation Committee has one today on commuter rail. Several big-name transit agency leaders are coming in, including former FTA Administrator Peter Rogoff, who now heads up Sound Transit in Washington. Also testifying: Stephanie Wiggins of Southern California’s MetroLink, American Public Transportation Association CEO Paul Skoutelas, and Jim Derwinski of Chicago’s Metra system.
APPROPS UPDATE: The Senate continues to chug along on its appropriations bills. Pros with a Datapoint subscription can check out this neat graphical representation, and for everyone else, keep following along with MT. For now, the situation largely remains the same: The two chambers are planning to pass a stopgap spending bill before the end of the fiscal year next week, so they have more time to hash out full-year appropriations legislation.
ON THE BOOKS: Trump signed a bill into law over the weekend that directs DOT to solicit nominations for the National Scenic Byways Program and identify roads to be designated under the program within a year.
HEADED TO COURT: California’s first lawsuit against the Trump administration for blocking its auto emissions standards was assigned to an Obama-appointed judge on Monday, Pro Energy’s Alex Guillen reports. Here’s some of the legal nitty-gritty: The administration might try to consolidate this suit with “any forthcoming challenge to EPA’s parallel withdrawal of California’s auto emissions waiver, which was based on the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration preemption declaration. The Clean Air Act directs such lawsuits straight to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, bypassing the district court,” Alex writes.
HYPERLOOP DEMO COMING TO D.C.: For Hyperloop skeptics and enthusiasts alike in the Beltway, here’s your chance. Virgin Hyperloop One is bringing its “roadshow” to D.C. on Oct. 16, complete with a “test pod.” The company said more details are coming soon, and it’s part of a swing that includes stops in New York, Missouri and North Carolina.
GOING HIGH TECH: As part of Rail Safety Week, Canadian Pacific is teaching safety behaviors to 5 to 12 year olds — the “habit forming audience,” as the railroad said. The company has launched a game for kids (and the young at heart, like your MT host) to learn how to keep safe around the tracks.
OUR BAD: Monday’s MT included two slip-ups: We misspelled the last name of former House Transportation Chairman Bill Shuster, and we gave the wrong title for Trish Gilbert, executive vice president of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association.
— “Hyundai, Aptiv join forces for self-driving car technology.” CNET.
— “SEC says Nissan, Ghosn fined for underreporting $140M in compensation.” POLITICO Pro.
— “Postmates rolls out robots in Los Angeles as it preps for IPO.” Wall Street Journal.
— “New startup aims to bring controversial scooter tracking system to more cities.” The Verge.
— “NJ Transit CEO won’t rule out fare increases.” POLITICO Pro.
— “RIP Thomas Cook: Holiday dreams washed away by tide of debt.” Reuters.
— “3 Chinese tourists still critical in deadly U.S. bus crash.” Associated Press.
DOT appropriations run out in 7 days. The FAA reauthorization expires in 1,469 days. Highway and transit policy is up for renewal in 374 days.
