The test pilot is accused of misleading the US aviation regulator during the certification process. He faces 100 years in prison.
American justice indicted Thursday, October 14 a former Boeing test pilot, accused of having misled the American aviation regulator during the certification process of the 737 MAX, two of which crashed in 2018 and 2019 causing 346 deaths. Mark Forkner “Provided the agency with false, inaccurate and incomplete information about a new Boeing 737 MAX flight control system”, called MCAS, at the origin of the two accidents, explains the Ministry of Justice in a press release.
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According to prosecution documents, the official discovered in 2016 information about an important change made to this software supposed to prevent stalls but deliberately chose not to share it with the agency, the FAA. The latter therefore did not include a reference to MCAS in an essential document, and indirectly in the training manuals intended for pilots. Mark Forkner, 49, is also accused of conspiring at the expense of Boeing customers who bought 737 MAXs by depriving them of essential information. According to documents published in early 2020, he boasted of being able to deceive his FAA interlocutors to obtain certification for the MCAS anti-stall system.
The 737 Max was formally approved in March 2017. In October 2018 and March 2019, two accidents respectively involving aircraft of the companies Lion Air and Ethiopian Airlines killed 346. During both incidents, the flight control software, the MCAS, got carried away on the basis of erroneous information transmitted by one of the aircraft’s two probes. All the other 737 Max were then nailed to the ground for twenty months, before being allowed to fly again at the end of 2020, once the software had been modified.
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Boeing has admitted responsibility for the authorities’ manipulation and agreed to pay more than $ 2.5 billion to settle certain lawsuits. Mark Forkner, 49, has been formally indicted by a grand jury in Texas with two counts of fraud involving aircraft parts and four counts of electronic communication fraud. If found guilty, he could theoretically face up to 100 years in prison.
“Mark Forkner withheld essential information from the regulator in an attempt to save money for Boeing”Texas federal prosecutor Chad Meacham said in the statement. “The Department of Justice cannot tolerate such fraud, especially in a sector where the stakes are so high”, he added.
Asked by AFP, Boeing declined to comment.