Federal Grand Jury Indicts Former Boeing Pilot in 737 MAX Crash Case

The US Department of Justice announced on Wednesday that it has indicted the former Boeing 737 MAX 8 pilot who allegedly caused the crash in Ethiopia in March.

Federal grand jury indicts former Boeing pilot in 737 MAX crash case.

According to the US Department of Justice, a federal grand jury in Texas accused a former Boeing Co. BA -1.96 percent pilot for allegedly misleading federal authorities during the aircraft maker’s development of the 737 MAX before two of the planes crashed.

According to the Justice Department, Mark A. Forkner, 49, was charged with misleading the Federal Aviation Administration about training materials linked to a flight-control system that was subsequently blamed for a major role in the accidents. The accidents happened in late 2018 and early 2019 and resulted in the deaths of 346 people.

On Thursday, an attorney representing Mr. Forkner could not be contacted for comment. Mr. Forkner’s lawyer, David Gerger, previously said that Mr. Forkner, a pilot and Air Force veteran, would not risk pilots or passengers, and that his contacts with regulators were truthful.

Mr. Forkner allegedly supplied the FAA with “materially misleading, incorrect, and incomplete information” regarding the MCAS flight-control systems, according to prosecutors.

According to prosecutors, the FAA’s training experts and airline pilot manuals and training materials lacked any mention to the system as a consequence of the alleged fraud.

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Mr. Forkner is accused of “abusing his position of trust by concealing crucial information regarding MCAS,” according to Assistant Attorney General Kenneth Polite Jr. According to him, such acts robbed airlines and pilots of critical information regarding an essential component of the plane’s flight controls.

The FAA and Boeing both refused to comment.

Mr. Forkner is the first person to be charged in connection with the two MAX accidents, the first of which happened three years ago this month.

The automatic MCAS system has been blamed for the deadly nosedives of two Boeing 737 MAX planes. Mistakes by the airline and the crew were also highlighted by accident investigators. The incidents resulted in a nearly two-year worldwide grounding of the fleet, resulting in the company’s worst-ever business crisis. Late last year, the FAA cleared the aircraft to fly again.

The MCAS system was originally intended to operate only under unusual flying circumstances that airline pilots would experience. Boeing engineers increased the system’s authority and the circumstances that would activate it throughout the aircraft’s development.

Mr. Forkner indicated in chat conversations obtained by congressional investigators that he hadn’t informed regulators that Boeing engineers had made the MCAS system more powerful, making pilots more likely to encounter it during flight. Mr. Forkner said in the communications that he was unaware of the flight-control system modifications. In a 2016 communication, he stated, “So I essentially lied to the regulators (unknowingly).”

Mr. Forkner could have informed the FAA about the system modification at that time, according to the accusation, but instead “withheld this significant information.” Mr. Forkner then suggested that the FAA not include a reference to the technology in a report determining how much training pilots would need to fly the new aircraft a few months later, according to the indictment.

Mr. Forkner’s chat communications, according to Mr. Gerger, were about issues with a simulator, not the plane.

Prosecutors have accused Mr. Forkner with two charges of fraud using airplane components in interstate commerce and four counts of wire fraud. Mr. Forkner’s alleged deceit, according to the Justice Department, concealed critical information from U.S.-based airline customers who bought Boeing aircraft.

According to the indictment, Mr. Forkner was aware that a major Boeing goal was to get FAA clearance for a training package that would not require MAX pilots to undertake simulator training, which would be expensive to the manufacturer’s airline customers.

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According to the indictment, Mr. Forkner understood Boeing would suffer financially if regulators mandated simulator training, as shown by an email he sent in December 2014: “It was Mark, yes Mark!” Boeing has spent tens of millions of dollars on this person!”

According to the Wall Street Journal, Boeing agreed to give Southwest Airlines Co. a $1 million refund for each MAX aircraft that needed simulator training.

Boeing and the Justice Department struck a $2.5 billion settlement in the lawsuit in January. One count of conspiracy to defraud the United States was filed against the business. Boeing, on the other hand, will escape prosecution on that charge—and will continue to be eligible for government contracts—as long as it stays out of legal problems for the next three years.

The wrongdoing by former Boeing workers was “neither widespread throughout the company, nor committed by a significant number of employees, nor supported by senior management,” according to Boeing’s settlement with the Justice Department, which did not identify Mr. Forkner by name.

(More to follow)

Andrew Tangel can be reached at Andrew.Tangel@wsj.com.

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The mark forkner boeing bio is a former Boeing pilot who was indicted by the federal grand jury for the fatal crash of the 737 MAX.

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