Former test pilot accused of “Boeing 737 MAX”

An aircraft software played a central role in the two crashes with 346 deaths. The chief test pilot is accused of detecting errors in the flight simulator but not reporting them.

Boeing plane crashed during investigation 737 Max The former chief test pilot of the machine has been charged. He is accused of providing US officials with inaccurate and incomplete information about the aid system, which played a central role in two crashes of the aircraft type. Therefore, the airlines and their pilots were not informed about the functionality of the software, according to the indictment published on Thursday.

The system named MCAS was to be used by pilots of 737 Max Help keep the plane in the right position. This became necessary because a modified version of the machine was 737 is from the 1960s. NS Max Large engines were found, so the nose of the aircraft could go up in some cases. The software should then recompile and make minor improvements. But as it turned out, MCAS can also interfere in other situations and drive the machine down. Pilots were unprepared for two crashes in Indonesia in 2018 and in Ethiopia in 2019.

346 people died in the accidents. NS 737 Max The flight, which was banned for 20 months during the investigation, has been allowed to re-air in Europe since January. The crisis cost Boeing billions. The investigation against the company was settled with a $2.5 billion settlement at the end of President Donald Trump’s tenure.

Boeing originally told the FAA that MCAS should intervene only in a rare situation – when the aircraft is making a sharp turn at high speed. But in November 2016, chief test pilot Mark Forkner found in the flight simulator that the system was active even at significantly lower flight speeds. “So I lied to regulators (unintentionally),” Forkner wrote to a colleague in the company’s internal chat. This exchange has been known since its launch in 2019 by Boeing.

Since then, Forkner has been in the eye of investigators. The indictment now accuses him of verifying that the system operates at low speeds after a surprise during simulator flight with a colleague, and has kept it from regulators. This resulted in the lack of documentation for the training of MCAS pilots. MaxThe version was mentioned, prosecutors insisted. The FAA only found out about the system after the crash.

The former test pilot or his lawyers have yet to respond to the indictment. In response to earlier criticism after the chat was published, he emphasized that Forkner had not intentionally put passengers and crew members at risk.