Former Boeing chief technical pilot charged with fraud over Max jet
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
A former chief technical pilot for Boeing was indicted Thursday on charges that he deceived federal aviation officials about the Max 737 jet, a plane later involved in two crashes that killed more than 340 people.
Mark A. Forkner, 49, was charged by a federal grand jury with fraud and wire fraud, the Justice Department said.
Forkner is accused of deceiving the Federal Aviation Administration, which was evaluating the new jet, particularly regarding its Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System, or MCAS.
"In an attempt to save Boeing money, Forkner allegedly withheld critical information from regulators," Chad E. Meacham, acting U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas, said in a statement.
Two of the 737 Max jets later crashed — Lion Air Flight 610 in Indonesia in 2018, and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 in Ethiopia in 2019. More than 340 people were killed in all. The Max jets were grounded in the United States and around the world.
According to the indictment, the FAA had been told the MCAS would operate at high speeds.
Forkner later learned it was operating at a lower speed, similar to those at takeoff and landing, but withheld that information from the FAA, according to the indictment.
Prosecutors said the deception meant an FAA document did not reference the system, and neither did airplane manuals and pilot-training materials. The change to the MCAS was found after the deadly crashes.
Online federal court records did not appear to show the case or an attorney for Forkner on Thursday evening. An attorney who has reportedly been representing him did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
June 2021: Boeing's new 737 Max jet to take first flight
Boeing declined to comment.
Boeing was criminally charged and admitted that two of its flight technical pilots misled the FAA about the flight system. The company in January agreed to pay $2.5 billion to settle the criminal case.
Forkner was charged with two counts of fraud involving aircraft parts in interstate commerce and four counts of wire fraud. The aircraft-related fraud counts carry up to 20 years in prison each. He is expected to appear in a Texas federal court Friday.
The 737 Max was recertified and the first U.S. commercial flight occurred in December 2020.
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Was the deception considered the cause of the crashes? In other words, what the system did at low speeds caused the problem? If so, I would think that he should be charged with more than just fraud.
He should be charged for the 300 plus who perished under depraved indifference.
"In an attempt to save Boeing money, Forkner allegedly withheld critical information from regulators," Chad E. Meacham, acting U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas, said in a statement.
How much money did Boeing save when the entire fleet of their new 737 Max jets was grounded?
I will bet it was far less than the billion plus they have had to pay to the families of the dead and the FAA penalties.
Seems a bit strange, his job was to be sure that the systems functioned properly, and all of a sudden on his he wanted to save Boeing money? I would sure as hell start looking at the people he reported to to see if there were any others in involved in this fiasco.
Agreed! This doesn't even pass the stink-o-meter test.
In addition, to suggest that the FAA would allow Boing employees to have the final word regarding anything safety-related, is ridiculous. That would make the FAA complicit in regard to both past and future tragedies.
This...
Forkner later learned it was operating at a lower speed, similar to those at takeoff and landing, but withheld that information from the FAA, according to the indictment.
...is also disturbing. He 'later learned'? This would indicate that someone else was previously aware of the troubles with MCAS.
One more thing, why isn't the other accused pilot named in this article? One could almost think that the purpose of this article was to get Fortner's name out into the public realm first. Lawyers for another defendant in a similar circumstance can be really clever with well-placed articles. On a somewhat related note, our former White House occupant had a son-in-law who could write the book on the upside of bs article placement...especially an article that might sway the weaker-minded into believing just about anything.
Sadly that is exactly what happened according to articles that I read in the last couple of years. Let me see if I can find them again.
BINGO, here it is.
I'm not positive, but I think I remember when this came up originally there was reports that pilots had been lodging complaints about they system and were ignored. So perhaps this is what they are referencing.
Holy cow. Back in my day, flight crew members could be fined $1,000 for not having their FAA flight manuals readily available while on duty. We could be fined $10,000 for accidentally popping an escape slide (which can be done if the door is not disarmed prior to opening). If we neglected to wear our ID in restricted areas, we could end up in all kinds of trouble. Initial flight attendant training is 90% FAA mandated safety instruction, and 10% customer service, which might explain why we're all a bunch of bitches. Actually, that last part isn't entirely true. We never needed a reason to be a bunch of bitches. To learn that the FAA was complicit in such a flagrant disregard for safety, especially when they were such sticklers regarding the lesser offences, is scary beyond words.
So, when Firestone made 87,000,000,000 bad tires and blamed it on Larry, third shift QC lab, they were lying?
You would have to ask Larry QC lab and Firestone.