A former chief technical pilot for Boeing has been indicted by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) on fraud charges and accused of deceiving the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in connection with its evaluation of the Boeing 737 MAX and of “scheming to defraud” U.S. airlines to obtain millions of dollars for Boeing.
The DOJ said a federal grand jury in the Northern District of Texas returned the indictment Thursday against Mark A. Forkner, alleging that Forkner “provided the [FAA] 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 was designed to enhance pitch stability.
The DOJ added, “Because of his alleged deception, a key document published by the FAA AEG [Aircraft Evaluation Group] lacked any reference to MCAS. In turn, airplane manuals and pilot-training materials for U.S.-based airlines lack…
