The FAA failed to adhere to its own regulations, followed out-of-date procedures and lacked the manpower and expertise to properly oversee the alterations, a panel of worldwide experts found, reported AFP.

The Joint Authorities Technical Review (JATR) was put together in March after a B737 MAX operated by Ethiopian Airlines crashed, killing all 157 onboard. That followed the crash of a Lion Air flight that plunged into the ocean off Indonesia in October, with the loss of 189 lives.

The tragedies, linked to issues with a flight handling system unique to the MAX, led to the airliner being grounded and a step-up in oversight of Boeing from the FAA and international regulators.

Commenting on the FAA, JATR said there was "an inadequate number of FAA specialists" in place to oversee a new design of the 737 MAX and they "had inadequate awareness" of the system implicated in the crashes.

It said officials oversaw design changes "in a way that failed to achieve the full safety benefit."

Their damning 69-page report also found that Boeing had put pressure on some of its staff who had FAA authority to approve the updated designs.

The JATR panel included members of the FAA as well as NASA and other regulators from around the world.

A Boeing spokesman said the company appreciated the panel's work and "is committed to working with the FAA in reviewing the recommendations and helping to continuously improve the process and approach used to validate and certify airplanes going forward."

In response to the report, FAA administrator Steven Dickson said: "We welcome this scrutiny and are confident that our openness to these efforts will further bolster aviation safety worldwide.

"The accidents in Indonesia and Ethiopia are a sombre reminder that the FAA and our international regulatory partners must strive to constantly strengthen aviation safety," he added.

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