Congressman Kennedy says answers are needed on the FAA response to the 737 Max

Congress is likely to begin probing the relationship between the Federal Aviation Administration and airplane manufacturer Boeing as well as the agency's decision to wait until last Wednesday to ground Boeing's 737 Max aircraft, U.S. Rep. Joseph Kennedy III said.

After a deadly crash involving a Boeing 737 Max in Ethiopia on March 10 -- the second fatal crash involving the new model airplane in recent months -- most countries moved to ground the 787 Max class until regulators and investigators can ascertain whether the plane's systems played a role in the two crashes. The United States was one of the last countries to bar 737 Max planes, made by a company based in Chicago, from flying.

"It was puzzling to me why it took so long for federal regulators here to actually ground those planes and it was actually the president that did so, from my understanding, not the FAA," he said during an appearance Sunday on WCVB's "On the Record" program. "I think we need to get some answers out of it."

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The congressman said his family was scheduled to fly aboard a Boeing 737 Max 8 in the coming weeks.

"I would have to think long and hard about putting my family on that plane and I think every other family probably feels the same way," he said when co-host Janet Wu asked if he would have taken that flight had the planes not been grounded. "So let's make sure the safety and integrity of that system is one that every American can have confidence in."

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In a statement supporting the FAA's decision to ground the 371 Boeing 737 Max planes in the United States, the manufacturer said it "continues to have full confidence in the safety of the 737 MAX."

Ethiopian crash victims were aid workers, doctors, academics