Skift Take

Boeing already paid more than $2.5 billion to put the 737 Max fiasco behind it. If the case against the former Boeing chief technical pilot goes to trial, then assuredly new information about Boeing's dealings with the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration will emerge.

A former Boeing Co chief technical pilot, accused of deceiving federal regulators evaluating the company’s 737 MAX jet, was charged with fraud on Friday, pleaded not guilty and was released, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in northern Texas said.

Mark Forkner, 49, was indicted by a grand jury in Texas on six counts of scheming to defraud Boeing’s U.S.-based airline customers to obtain tens of millions of dollars for the plane maker.

According to the indictment, Forkner provided the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Aircraft Evaluation Group with “materially false, inaccurate, and incomplete information” about a new part of the flight controls for the Boeing 737 MAX, called the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS).

The MCAS, a software feature designed to automatically push the airplane’s nose down in certain conditions, was tied to two fatal crashes of the 737 MAX over a five-month period that killed 346 people. The FAA grounded the plane for 19 months, an action which was lifted in November 2020.

A lawyer for Forkner said he should not have been charged and was not responsible for the two fatal Boeing crashes.

“If the government takes this case to trial, the truth will show that Mark did not cause this tragedy, he did not lie, and he should not be charged,” Forkner lawyer David Gerger said in a statement.

Gerger called on people who worked at Boeing, the FAA or an airline “to help the truth come out. Please contact us, get us a message, do not be intimidated.”

Boeing and the FAA declined to comment.

In January, Boeing agreed to pay https://www.reuters.com/article/boeing-737max-justice-int/boeing-to-pay-2-5-billion-to-settle-u-s-criminal-probe-into-737-max-crashes-idUSKBN29D07Q more than $2.5 billion in fines and compensation after reaching a deferred prosecution agreement with the U.S. Justice Department over the MAX crashes, which cost Boeing more than $20 billion.

(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Leslie Adler and David Gregorio)

This article was written by David Shepardson from Reuters and was legally licensed through the Industry Dive publisher network. Please direct all licensing questions to [email protected].

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Tags: 737 max, Boeing, faa

Photo credit: A United 737 Max jet. Boeing's former lead technical pilot dealing with the FAA has been charged with fraud. Dylan T / Flickr

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