Status: 10/15/2021 10:50 a.m.
Is the former chief test pilot of the 737 MAX responsible for the crashes of two planes, in which 346 people died? The question is now to clarify a jury in Texas.
A former test pilot for US aircraft manufacturer Boeing has been charged with his role in the devastating crashes of two Boeing 737 MAX planes. Former chief technical pilot Mark Forkner provided the FAA with “incorrect, inaccurate and incomplete information about a new part of the flight control of the Boeing 737 MAX,” said the US Department of Justice. The assistance system played a central role in the accidents.
Airlines and their pilots were not informed about the functionality of the software, according to the indictment. The 49-year-old Forkner has to answer to a jury in the US state of Texas for fraud. “The Justice Department will not condone fraud, especially in industries where so much is at stake,” said Texas Attorney Chad Meacham. If convicted, Forkner faces up to 100 years imprisonment.
Software should counteract this
The system, called MCAS, was designed to help the 737 MAX pilots keep the aircraft in the correct position. It became necessary because the machine is a modified version of the 737 from the 1960s. The MAX got bigger engines, so in some cases the nose of the aircraft could go up. The software should then take countermeasures and make slight corrections.
But as it turned out, MCAS could intervene in other situations and steer the machine downwards. In the two crashes in Indonesia in 2018 and in Ethiopia in 2019, pilots were not prepared, 346 people were killed.
Forkner boasted
Boeing originally told the FAA that MCAS should only intervene in a rare situation when the aircraft is making sharp turns at high speed. But in November 2016, chief test pilot Forkner found in the flight simulator that the system was active even at a significantly lower flight speed. “So I lied to the regulators (unknowingly),” Forkner then wrote to a colleague in the company’s internal chat. This exchange had been known since Boeing published it in 2019.
The 737 MAX was registered in March 2017. Forkner was the direct contact between the aircraft manufacturer and the FAA. According to documents released in early 2020, he had bragged about being able to deceive his FAA colleagues in order to obtain certification for the MCAS stabilization system specially developed for the Boeing 737 MAX.
There was initially no reaction to the indictment from the ex-test pilot or his lawyers. In response to earlier criticism after the chats were published, they had emphasized that Forkner had never knowingly put passengers and crew members at risk.
Lawsuit against Boeing as well
The 737 Max was banned from flying for 20 months during the investigation. Boeing had admitted its responsibility for the crashes earlier this year and accepted a billion-dollar fine to avert criminal proceedings. The company agreed to pay a $ 2.5 billion fine and compensation.
In September, a US judge admitted another lawsuit against the company. The shareholders are suing Boeing’s board of directors for ignoring warnings regarding the MCAS safety system after the first crash.