Ex-Boeing Pilot Heads to Court

The US Department of Justice reported that a federal grand jury charged former Boeing Chief Technical Pilot Mike Forkner with multiple counts of fraud for allegedly manipulating the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) during its evaluation of the company’s 737 Max airplane. Boeing is accused of providing incomplete information about an automated flight control system that played a key role in two crashes, taking the lives of 346 people. Initially, Forkner’s attorney did not respond to the allegations, and Boeing and the FAA declined to comment. “There is no excusing those who deceive safety regulators for the sake of personal gain or commercial expediency,” said inspector general of the U.S. Department of Transportation Eric J. Soskin. Based on court filings by both sides, the trial is likely to feature several testimonies from technical experts, as well as internal Boeing communications illuminating discussions about the Max that occurred within the company. According to the charges, Forkner, who was in command of the Boeing 737 Max Flight Technical Team, provided the FAA’s Aircraft Evaluation Group with “materially misleading, inaccurate, and incomplete” information about a new software tool for the Boeing 737 Max. The company’s Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System was created to improve airplane stability, but Forkner reportedly found a critical problem with the system in 2016. The key-flight control system activated more often than intended, and Forkner failed to notify federal safety officials. According to court filings, the new tool, known by the acronym MCAS, was not included in airplane manuals, FAA reports, or pilot training materials, allegedly because Forkner concealed the revised information. The crashes in 2018 and 2019 were at least partially caused by a design flaw of MCAS, which reacted to faulty sensor readings, pushing the plane down and leaving pilots with no control of the aircraft. The planes went into nosedives minutes after takeoff. Prosecutors suggested that Forkner hid the crucial information to avoid the required extensive and costly retraining of pilots, which could have increased the overall training cost for the airline. “In an attempt to save Boeing money, Forkner allegedly withheld critical information from regulators,” said Chad Meacham, the acting U.S. attorney for the northern district of Texas. Forkner told another Boeing employee that the MCAS was “running rampant” but didn’t tell the FAA. “So, I basically lied to the regulators (unknowingly),” Forkner wrote in a personal message which became public in 2019. Forkner was charged with two counts of fraud involving aircraft parts and four counts of wire fraud. If convicted on all counts, he could face a sentence of 100 years in prison. Nonetheless, the crashes are not blamed on Forkner as per the indictment. Prosecutors requested U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor to prohibit any mention of the crashes in front of the jury. However, Forkner’s lawyers wanted to ask the jury what they knew and had heard about the crashes. According to the filing, “The investigation could have landed on Boeing, or its senior executives who were once ‘subjects,’ but now are witnesses at trial.” The defense team fears being linked to the crashes could make witnesses try “to curry favor with the prosecution.” The witness list includes three Boeing employees, government experts, and representatives from Southwest Airlines and American Airlines (two of Boeing’s biggest customers). However, the defense can expand the list of witnesses at their discretion. Possible witnesses could be current or former Boeing employees, test pilots, and an ex-engineer of Boeing, who reportedly quit after his bosses refused a safety improvement to the Max due to cost. Boeing did reach a settlement with federal officials to avoid prosecution for conspiracy. The company paid a $244 million fine as part of the agreement in January 2021. However, the crash victims’ families are consulting another federal judge in an attempt to nullify the agreement and seek criminal charges against the company’s officials for allegedly prioritizing profit over safety. They argue that Boeing rushed the new version of the 737 to production because its European competitor, Airbus, was ahead of the company in fuel-efficient planes. The MCAS involved in the crash was installed to accommodate the larger engine of the Max. The role of MCAS in the crashes was highlighted during investigations; however, airlines and pilots also reportedly made mistakes. For more than a year and a half after the incidents, Max planes were grounded all over the world until Boeing made adjustments to the MCAS and the FAA authorized the plane to fly again late last year.