WASHINGTON, April 11 (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate Commerce Committee will hold a hearing on Wednesday with members of an expert panel that released a report in February criticizing Boeing's safety culture and calling for significant improvements, the committee said on Thursday.

The hearing comes as the planemaker faces ongoing questions about quality and safety practices following an Alaska Airlines 737 MAX 9 Jan. 5 mid-air emergency. The committee will hear from three panel members, including a NASA expert on safety culture and Javier de Luis, an aeronautics expert at MIT.

(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Leslie Adler)