Boeing 737 MAX test pilot found not guilty

A Texas federal court has found former Boeing test pilot Mark Forkner as not guilty on four counts of wire fraud. 

Mark Forkner

A Texas jury has found former Boeing chief test pilot Mar Forkner as not guilty on four counts of wire fraud relating to the 737 MAX program. Prosecutors argued that forker had lied to the FAA and airlines during the 737 MAX certification program.

The 737 MAX was certified by the FAA in 2017, after two fatal crashes involving the type in 2019 and 2020 the aircrafts type certificate was revoked, and Boeing’s certification process came under intense scrutiny. It was quickly found that one of the main factors of these accidents was the MCAS (Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System) software, it was alleged that Forkner knew about these issues but did not escalate it to minimize pilot training requirements and save both Boeing and airlines money.

Boeing 737 MAX 10

After a protracted Justice Department investigation, Boeing agreed to pay nearly $2.5 billion USD in 2021 to avoid criminal charges. Mark Forkner ended up being the only person from Boeing to face any criminal charges as a result, this led some people to say he was simply used as a scapegoat.

The trial lasted less than a week, Forkners lawyers painted a different picture to what the U.S. DOJ alleged. They claim that Boeing engineers and test pilots who developed MCAS did not keep him in the loop and thus he didn’t know anything. 

The DOJ could not produce any hard evidence (i.e., phone records, etc.…) to support their witnesses who testified that Forkner had admitted to a MCAS cover up. in the defense lawyer’s firing line was FAA official Stacey Klein who previously suggested that Forkner had tricked her into approving less stringent 737 MAX training requirements.

In a statement Forkner’s lawyer David Gregor said: "We had a great team and great client, and thank heavens for our independent, smart, fair judge and jury, they made all the difference.”