Ali Bahrami
![]() ![]() ![]() (engineer, bureaucrat, lobbyist) | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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Nationality | US | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Ethnicity | Iranian | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Alma mater | University of Michigan | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Interests | • Boeing • Boeing 737 MAX | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Revolving door FAA "safety" administrator
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Ali Bahrami was an aircraft safety administrator at the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), where he led the organization responsible for setting safety standards and overseeing all parts of the aviation industry.[1] He was appointed after a period working in a revolving door to an aerospace lobbying group.
Bahrami was one of the leading members of the FAA during the initial development of the Boeing 737 MAX, an aircraft that soon became infamous for its disastrous safety record. As a lobbyist, Bahrani had argued for delegating more regulatory authority to the plane-makers, and in 2019, whistleblowers told how Bahrami pushed an agenda of "abdication" to Boeing during his leadership of the office regulating the company.[2][3]
Activities
Bahrami led the office that oversaw Boeing before leaving in 2013 (early in the 737 MAX's certification process) for a top post at the Aerospace Industries Association (AIA).[4] The AIA is a Boeing-financed lobbyist organization that represents the nation's leading aerospace and defense manufacturers and suppliers".[5][1] Working for the lobbyist, he argued before Congress to fight foreign competition by delegating more regulatory authority to the plane-makers to help them get new products to market faster.[6]
Bahrami then went back to the FAA, where he led its aviation safety office from 2017 until 2021.[7]
The Boeing 737 MAX passenger airliner was grounded worldwide between March 2019 and December 2020 – longer in many jurisdictions – after 346 people died in two similar crashes[8].
In June 2019, Bahrani pushed for the speedy re-approval of the Boeing 737 MAX[9]
In 2019, family of Boeing crash victims called for the resignation and criminal prosecution Bahrami.[10]
In 2021, "hundreds of relatives and friends of passengers who died in the Max crashes wrote last month to President Joe Biden and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, demanding that they oust Bahrami and three other FAA officials, including Administrator Stephen Dickson." The FAA announced Bahrami would retire at the end of June 2021.[11]
References
- ↑ a b https://www.faa.gov/sites/faa.gov/files/aircraft/air_cert/design_approvals/engine_prop/AVS_Engine_Safety_Summit_Program.pdf
- ↑ https://www.pogo.org/analysis/corrupted-oversight-the-faa-boeing-and-the-737-max
- ↑ https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/27/business/boeing-737-max-faa.html
- ↑ https://www.globalresearch.ca/why-have-not-boeing-executives-been-arrested/5692627
- ↑ https://docs.house.gov/meetings/PW/PW05/20131030/101419/HHRG-113-PW05-Bio-BahramiA-20131030.pdf
- ↑ https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/the-national-737-max-boeing-1.5107529
- ↑ https://www.cnbc.com/2021/06/02/faas-top-safety-official-retires-ali-bahrami-was-criticized-over-boeing-jet.html
- ↑ https://www.americanmachinist.com/news/article/21148616/eu-to-clear-737-max-to-fly-in-january-2021-boeing
- ↑ https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-06-12/boeing-737-max-to-be-flying-again-by-december-faa-official-says
- ↑ https://www.corporatecrimereporter.com/news/200/family-of-boeing-crash-victim-call-for-resignation-and-criminal-investigation-of-faa-safety-chief-ali-bahrami/
- ↑ https://www.designdevelopmenttoday.com/industries/aerospace/news/21485336/faa-safety-official-retires-was-criticized-over-boeing-jet