Texas federal jury quickly acquits former Boeing test pilot of misleading feds about 737 Max

FORT WORTH, Texas (CN) — A Texas federal jury deliberated less than one hour Wednesday before acquitting a former Boeing chief test pilot of misleading federal regulators of software changes in the 737 Max that were implicated in two crashes that killed 346 people.

Mark Forkner, 49, of Keller, Texas, was acquitted of four counts of wire fraud on the fourth day of trial. He faced up to 80 years in federal prison.

Defense attorney David Gerger, with Gerger Hennessy in Houston, said afterwards he “had a great team and a great client.”

“[A]nd thank heavens for our independent, smart, fair judge and jury,” Gerger said. “They made all the difference.”

The Max is Boeing’s latest variant of the 737-line of narrow-body commercial aircraft that first entered service six decades ago.

The aircraft was grounded by the Federal Aviation Administration on March 13, 2019, after the deadly crashes of Lion Air Flight 610 five months earlier and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 three days earlier. It was returned to service on Nov. 18, 2020, after modifications were made to the Max’s wiring, training protocols and the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System software was replaced.

Prosecutors unsuccessfully argued that Forkner lied to the FAA and airlines during the agency’s evaluation of the Max before it debuted in 2017. They told the jury Forkner tried to minimize the importance of MCAS in order to keep pilot training for the Max to a minimum, resulting in the FAA publishing a final report that lacked any reference to the software. This then allegedly led to pilot-training manuals for U.S. airlines lacking references to the software as well.

MCAS was introduced on the Max in order to point the nose of the aircraft down in certain situations. The software was added due to the larger, more efficient engines on the Max requiring higher mounting on the wing that changes the plane’s center of gravity compared to earlier variants.

Forkner’s acquittal came two days after FAA official Stacey Klein told jurors he threw tantrums at her team during the agency’s evaluation of the Max’s pilot training needs. She testified about feeling bullied by Forkner’s “very unprofessional” conduct during their meetings, claiming his face would turn red, that he would slam his hands down onto the table and raise his voice.

Prosecutors told jurors that Forkner first learned of issues with the software in 2016 but failed to tell Klein’s team, resulting in the agency first learning of the problems after the Flight 610 crash in 2018.

Jurors also heard from Transportation Department official Kent Byers, who confirmed the authenticity of messages Forkner sent in 2017 to a co-worker admitting “I basically lied to the regulators (unknowingly)” about changes to MCAS.

Revealed in 2019, Forkner’s messages talked about the software being “egregious” and “running rampant” while he tested it in a simulator.

Forkner’s attorneys have insisted that his former coworkers were the ones who withheld the changes from him, arguing their client is an easy scapegoat. Forkner remains the only individual to be individually charged after the Max’s crashes and grounding.

Boeing itself agreed to pay over $2.5 billion on 2021 to resolve federal criminal accusations that it was misleading about the MCAS software. Under the settlement, Boeing agreed to pay a criminal penalty of $243.6 million, $1.77 billion in compensation for airline customers and establish a $500 million crash victim fund.

Boeing still faces other lawsuits after the crashes from family members of those killed and by the pilots union of Southwest Airlines in Dallas County District Court.

The acquittal comes two days after an older, non-Max 737 variant — a Boeing 737-800 — operated by China Eastern Airlines crashed with approximately 132 people on board.

Follow @davejourno

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