WASHINGTON – A former chief technical pilot for Boeing Co was charged on Thursday (Oct 14) with deceiving federal regulators concerning the evaluation of the company’s 737 MAX plane in order to save the US planemaker money, the US Justice Department said.
Mark Forkner, 49, was indicted for scheming to defraud Boeing’s US-based airline customers to obtain tens of millions of dollars for Boeing.
Boeing and a lawyer for Forkner did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The indictment said Forkner provided the Federal Aviation Administration (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 tied to two fatal crashes of the 737 MAX over a five month period that killed 346 people and led to the plane’s 19-month grounding by the FAA, lifted in November 2020.
The FAA declined comment.
In January, Boeing agreed to pay more than $2.5 billion (S$3.4 billion) in fines and compensation after reaching a deferred prosecution agreement with the US Department of Justice over the MAX crashes.<img alt="" data-caption="A Boeing 787-10 Dreamliner taxis past the Final Assembly Building at Boeing South Carolina in North Charleston, South Carolina, United States, March 31, 2017.
PHOTO: Reuters” data-entity-type=”file” data-entity-uuid=”f9aef9f5-a857-4e3a-b75b-7360176decad” src=”/sites/default/files/inline-images/Boeing.jpg”/>
FAA Mix‑up Leaves Pilots in the Dark
What the law got tangled up with – and why it matters
When prosecutors fired lights on a missing line in a core FAA document, they found that the fallout was more than just a bureaucratic hiccup. The manuals all the way up through pilot training for U.S. airlines simply never mentioned MCAS. That meant pilots flew without a key safety puzzle piece, and the FAA couldn’t guard the skies effectively.
“Playing the system” – the alleged fraud by a former Boeing exec
- Accusations: The former Boeing chief, Andrew Forkner, is alleged to have faked crucial info to the regulators. Acting U.S. Attorney Chad E. Meacham called him a “money‑saving con” who gave the FAA a straight‑up poker face about the training he had received.
- Evidence: A 2016 memo that surfaced only in 2019 bragged that he was “jedi‑mind tricking regulators into accepting the training”. The memo puts a face‑painted “smile” on his alleged deception.
- Charges: He faces two counts of fraud in interstate commerce with aircraft parts and four counts of wire fraud. That’s a potential 20 years in prison for every wire‑fraud charge and 10 years for each parts‑fraud count.
- Timeline: His first court appearance is slated for Friday in Fort Worth, Texas. The courtroom drama is just getting started.
Why this matters for the flying public
Every time a pilot lands a 737 MAX, the audience gets a quiet lesson in what happens when a key safety control is omitted from the training guide: the safety net gets tattered, passengers get an invisible risk tucked onto the trip. The legal process gaining traction is a welcome step toward tightening the loop on regulatory safety.
Bottom line
Forkner’s case will keep the FAA on its toes while the rest of the aviation community keeps pressing for complete transparency. The mix-up may have cost safety, but the forthcoming trial is poised to put the blame back where it belongs – in the hands of accountable, honest regulators and contractors.
