737 Max: US justice prepares to indict ex-Boeing pilot

Federal prosecutors are preparing to indict a former Boeing test pilot accused of manipulating the regulator, the Federal Aviation Administration, to obtain certification for the control system behind two tragic accidents, it reported Thursday. The Wall Street Journal.

Then Mark Forkner was a test pilot for the aircraft manufacturer, and was the direct contact between Boeing and the Federal Aviation Administration, the US civil aviation regulator.

According to documents published in early 2020, he boasted of his ability to deceive FAA interlocutors into obtaining certification for the MCAS anti-stall system.

The 737 Max was officially approved in March 2017.

In October 2018 and March 2019, two accidents occurred respectively on the planes of Lion Air and Ethiopian Airlines, killing 346 people.

During both incidents, the flight control program, MCAS, was transmitted based on false information sent by one of the aircraft’s probes.

All other 737 Max aircraft were then grounded for twenty months, before being allowed to fly again at the end of 2020, once the software was modified.

Boeing has admitted responsibility for manipulation by the authorities and has agreed to pay more than $2.5 billion to settle some lawsuits.

Asked by AFP, neither the US Department of Justice nor Forkner’s attorney followed up.

The The Wall Street Journal It does not specify in which city the former pilot should be commissioned.