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building 100,000 miles of new infrastructure to reach those that need it most. >> chart communications supports c-span as a public hese other television providers, giving you a front row seat to democracy. welcome back. we are joined to talk about aviation safety by the former inspector general at the transportation department, currently an aviation lawyer, est: thank you, it's good to be with you. host: before we get into aviation safety, the bridge mind if you'd like to make a comment about that. >> sure, obviously, the national transportation safety board has anthe coast guard also has jurisdiction to investigate. i am old enough to remember the

sunshine skyway collapse in florida and the comparisons, the similarities are quite be read. when you see the pictures, they look similar and the differences are, there but the rebuild bridge at the sunshine skyway had big round cement support structures that act as buffers or islands around the port and that's one of the most poignant things that's missing from the accident in baltimore. a few miles up the road, there is a bridge refreshment program going on on another bridge where they are putting those offenders or dolphins around the bridge to protect the structure. i think that will have -- will come into play a lot in this. of course, the reason for the power outage on the s that caused itñk■7■8

around the base of the bridge

support with the goal to make it impossible for a ship to hit it. new constr they replace the bridge but that is probably 5, 6, 7 years from now and probably $2 billion. >> now turning to the many issues blowing has been facing -- boeing has been safety. you are an aviation lawyer, barry. you have insight on the legal cases involving boeeing? >> i am involved in the litigation in federal court concerning the crash of the boeing in ethiopia. those cases are ongoing. boeing admitted liability after about 2.5 years in litigation. boeing admitted liability so the cases are being resolved and mind to be set for trial later in the year. >> as a refresher in january,

all in an alaska airlines flight a boeing 737 max 9 aircraft blew out midair over portland, oregon. investigators from the ntsb said evidence showed four that held the plug in place were missing at the time of the blowout. who's at fault for that? that question is being resolved. we have learned that the department of justice and the federal bureau of investigationc have opened a criminal investigation. the ntsb, rather unusual for the intended --ed publicly that they were irritated that the records concerning that particular door plug repair before it left the available or was missing or simply did not exist. the chair of the expressed

frustration or i would go as far as to saanr those records then soon thereafter the announcement came in a strange way, with the letters to the personththere is a federal act t requires criminal investigators to take into consideration the rights and interestsf the victims. all the people on the plane got a letter saying now there was a criminal investigation. boeing, or from concerns boeing. to open upter the ntsb complains the records are not available or were not available or do not exist. no one, at least when there g9ws last a public statement on it, knew where the bolts actually went. that warrants criminal investigation. >> regarding the tragic crashes of the max 8, was there anything

related to those with the plug issue or are they totally different? >> i think there is something related. that is a continuing issue of quality control and manufacturing excellence. to have that situation occur with not one but two aircraft in just six months apart when the two max 8's went down, the first response boeing and not just the max 8 accidents, the first response is to blame the pilot. in aircraft investigations in about 75% of cases the dsp -- ntsb and faa always blame the pilot and i have been involved in several cases where we were actually able to conclude the conclusion that it was the erro. in one case the engines had

something called court log and in another instance under trim stem -- the set -- the trim system was rigged backwards and the instructions from the factory had the rigging system backwards. in mechanical. and it's a 737 max 8 cases there was so much there and so much came out in the investigations. you had several congressional hearings. and we among other lawyers litigated that case. we discovery for two years before boeing admitted liability in that case. we can't discuss the discovery because there is a court protective order. but the amount of information that came out about just so many things that were nott aircraft. so boeing admitted its faultndbe congress.

because, that's important. but, there were so many problems they knew they had. when the first one went down six months before the ethiopia crash , the one i and involved in litigation in federal court in. that should have been the warning bell. i think the second one would not have happened had t problems , the manufacturing problems, the oversight problems most importantly. then i don't think i don't think we would have had the door plug blowout. i think it's a quality problem. it's an oversight problem. not so much an engineering problem. but it's an outsourcing problem. they have they manufacture planes over the last 20 or 30 years. there is a lot of outsourcing. where, before, boeing probably had a lot more over all the processes going into their parts and assemblies.

things have changed over the last 30 years in aerospace manufacturing, to be sur>> i wis to anybody that wants to call in and make a commentrion about airline safety, the problems at boeing. our lines are regional. in the eastern or central time zones called 202-7488 thousand. in mountain or pacific time zones call us on 202748 8001. you can send us a text at 202748 8003. we are on social media, facebook.com/c-span and on xkbdt c-span. wj. i want to put up a timeline of issues from this year at boeing. the safety incidents. i want to ask you for some specifics. starting with january 5 when the 737 max nine door■ pfae. that was an alaska airlines short.

on january 8 three days later ds more loose parts while a lawsuit alleges excessive amounts of defects at a key boeing supplier. can you tell us who that supplier and how those issues were found unaddressed? >> well, the supplier was an offshoot. manufacturer in kansas. they provide parts to boeing, spand of course, the problems we uncovered as they were investigating the door plug blowout. the particular part is shipped to boeing with, loosely assembled, ready to be installty take the door plug assembly and put it into the plane. they firmly affixed all the path -- fasteners, bolts, etc.. at first there was the question,

the problem? was the problem from the supplier of the particular assembly or on the line? as the information came out, you could did down and he got specific on this particular plane. they learned there had been a problem on the right-hand sideh. this is boeing, not the supplier. then, while looking at the right-hand side door plug they ■l laughed -- the left-hand side door plug and they found problems there. it was the left-hand side door plug that the ntsb later complained they did not have the records for that particular repair. no one is really sure where the boats are. there were some whistleblowers or commentators people who said, they are probably in the trash. that has certainly not you know, verified, from any investigation. those were just people commenting at the plant.

but, that is how that came to be. now, it looks like the problem really was at boeing on the boeing assembly, not the supplier. and of course there are rumors in the marketplace of discussion that boeing is now in the market to repurchase to buy the supplier back and put itack into the boeing fold. host: about that factory hawk is asking our next, what are the conditions at the factory? they understaffed, undereducated, or underpaid? guest: or, under supervised and without proper oversight. now, the faa, and, over the years, i have criticized the faa a lot. they did come to the situation a little late. but, the faa did go out and audit, i will say inspect, they■ ca they went out and looked at the boeing processes and at the supplier.

they found they were, in many cases, not in compliance with their own procedures, with their own assembly, with their own quality control. because, when build an aircraft or aircraft parts, you know it has to have the qualified and approved materials. you also have to have qualified and approved manufacturing processes. your airplane can't be certified unless you follow the processes in addition to having the qualified certified part. they found the faa flunked boeing about one third of their inspections and audits just this year. boeing got a lot more criticism. but, the problem was the oversight, the quality control. really, just requiring all love the workers -- all of the workers, processes, and management to meet the standards that were already there. it is doing what you are supposed to do when you are

supposed to do it. rol. i think i would just call it doing what you are supposed to do when you are supposed to do it. on march 9 a boeing whistleblower was found dead. someone asks on next, what happened to john barnett the boeing whistleblower found dead? i hear nothing on mainstream media or social media. is it like michael connell who was killed? guest: well, i know the chlston can be a fairly small town. i do know his attorney. they are very good attorneys. i have known them for years. that case. i will say it is under investigation. before i went to work for the department of transportation i

was a prosecutor with the u.s. department of justice. how you process a potential crime scene is very important. while it is under investigation, what i would want to know if i was going to be a prosecutor or investigator on that case, was that everything was done especially as it was supposed to do. any kind of gunshot incident you are obviously supposed to look at the gunshot residue, put whole scene, do all --. then i that has come out because it is a case under investigation. while it falls within the jurisdicon of one police department, and south carolina, you could call it state law enforcement has led this call. you can get all the help you want. hopefully they are doing everything right and buy the book. but even here locally there has not■'■ of information to come out about that investigation. host: now let's talk to callers.

jerry is first in broadway, virginia. caller: good morning. you know as well as i do the problem is■n■p dei hiring pract. just like the biden ministration. they aren't hiring people because of qualifications. they want to hire them because they are lgbtq. that is the bottom line. host: mary? guest: i am so glad you brought up the faa. ■h(éregardless of you it is andt they do and where they come from , their color, or their sexual orientation, the bottom line, and it is already coming out to the dashed through the faa audits and at the faayo the lawt the certification and regulations to say you are supposed to do.

the problems concerning the faa go all the wayit goes all the we certification in 1995, 1996 when congress passed 5 -- task myself and my office to go look at the certification process of the triple seven aircraft. now that is an elderly queen of the sky that airplane. a good one. but, we f boeing self certified about 95% of the aircraft ae congress. the faa said, and i am paraphrasing, but, basically, boeing has rocket scientists and the faa does not. i said wait a minute. you have a job to do. so regardless you don't lay dowe law at the top of the organization. it was almost inevitable, what

happened with the 737 max 8. without oversight, without people really beingxactly what e supposed to do, and i think people want to do that. but, the system got lax. that is where the real problem lies. ■!the training aspect, speaking about the 787 dreamliner in charleston, literally, an entire state went back to try to get them all the training. the local technical college provides training courses. rses for boeing. everybody tried. but, the will at the top is to do it by the books, do it right and safely and with quality. it does. matter -- does not matter who you put in that role, anybody will ms f the tone does not start at the top. host: let's talk to leah in sandy, utah.

caller: id to mention that for years there has been a problem with planes shaking so violently that the bolts will a similar example in the movie hidden figures. when the rocket shook so bad the shutters came off and burned the person inside the rocket to death. i think there is another problem with boeing. at one point, several parts come from several courii mean, sabotg problem if that is true. host: what you mary? guest: she makes a great point. ever space has changed. in years past boeing at other over the years there has been bankruptcies of various aerospace manufacturers,

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