U.S. regulators decided to allow Boeing Co. ’s 737 MAX jet to keep flying after its first fatal crash last fall even when their own analysis indicated it could become one of the most accident-prone airliners in decades without design changes.

The Federal Aviation Administration’s November 2018 internal analysis, released during a House committee hearing Wednesday, projected that without the agency’s intervention the MAX could have averaged one fatal crash about every two or three years. That amounts to a substantially greater safety risk than either Boeing or the agency indicated publicly at the time.

In the wake of the analysis, which came the month after the Lion Air crash in Indonesia, the FAA took steps to put short-term and permanent measures in place to address hazards.

Lawmakers challenged the agency and some of its decisions at Wednesday’s hearing.

“Despite its own calculations, the FAA rolled the dice on the safety of the traveling public and let the 737 MAX continue to fly,“ said Rep. Peter DeFazio (D., Ore.), chairman of the House Transportation Committee.