“During the certification process, the FAA delegated many evaluations to Boeing, allowing the manufacturer to review their own product.[48][49] It was widely reported that Boeing pushed to expedite approval of the 737 MAX to compete with the Airbus A320neo. That aircraft hit the market nine months ahead of Boeing’s model.”
Obama got $10,000,000 + from Boeing and was running for reelection and in charge of FAA should not have given fox keys to hen house!
There are always political pressures on FAA regarding Boeing. The subsidies to Airbus give them a built-in advantage and that is undeniable. They represent a lot of jobs, are a major defense contractor, and it is a company that has been a source of American pride regardless of politics.
Boeing was under massive pressure to release a new aircraft to compete with an amazing plane by Airbus. No denying it. The FAA was under massive pressure to approve the plane so Boeing would not lose market share and compete. No denying that.
There is also no denying my point either - that there will now be great pressure on the FAA to become larger and even more difficult in response to being blamed for the flaws in a Boeing product that had no similar crashes here in the US despite far more hours and flights.
This problem should be addressed and aggressively on all fronts to include the FAA, but that does not mean that I want the larger FAA that will result from this. If we turn the FAA into the FDA then Boeing will have a very hard time competing regardless of what party is in power.