In a new development, the former chief technical pilot for Boeing has been charged with fraud on Thursday for deceiving federal (FAA) regulators evaluating the company's B737 MAX aircraft, hindering the ability to protect airline passengers and leaving "pilots in the lurch" .
M**k F***n*r , 49 , was indicted by a grand jury in Texas on six counts of scheming to defraud Boeing's U.S.-based airline customers to obtain tens of millions of dollars for Boeing, the government said.
As per a Reuters report , according to the indictment , F***n*r , largely in the run-up to the Federal Aviation Administration's decision to approve the 737 MAX in 2017, provided the FAA Aircraft Evaluation Group 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, a software feature designed to automatically push the airplane’s nose down in certain conditions, was tied to two fatal crashes of the B737 MAX over a five-month period that killed 346 people and led to the FAA's grounding the plane for 19 months, an action which was lifted in November 2020.
An earlier Department of Justice statement read,
Within Boeing, the 737 MAX Flight Technical Team (composed of 737 MAX Flight Technical Pilots) was principally responsible for identifying and providing to the FAA AEG all information that was relevant to the FAA AEG in connection with the FAA AEG’s publication of the 737 MAX FSB Report.
Because flight controls were vital to flying modern commercial airplanes, differences between the flight controls of the 737 NG and the 737 MAX were especially important to the FAA AEG for purposes of its publication of the 737 MAX FSB Report and the FAA AEG’s differences-training determination.
Graphic credits : The seattle Times .
"In an attempt to save Boeing money, F***n*r allegedly withheld critical information from regulators," said Chad Meacham, the acting U.S. attorney for Northern Texas. "His callous choice to mislead the FAA hampered the agency's ability to protect the flying public and left pilots in the lurch, lacking information about certain 737 MAX flight controls."
In and around November 2016, two of Boeing’s 737 MAX Flight Technical Pilots, one who was then the 737 MAX Chief Technical Pilot and another who would later become the 737 MAX Chief Technical Pilot, discovered information about an important change to MCAS. Rather than sharing information about this change with the FAA AEG, Boeing, through these two B737 MAX Flight Technical Pilots , concealed this information and deceived the FAA AEG about MCAS.
It was consequential, because of this deceit, the FAA AEG deleted all information about MCAS from the final version of the 737 MAX FSB Report published in July 2017. In turn, airplane manuals and pilot training materials for U.S.-based airlines lacked information about MCAS, and pilots flying the 737 MAX for Boeing’s airline customers were not provided any information about MCAS in their manuals and training materials.
All these developments were led by the grounding of Boeing B737 Max Aircrafts across continents in March 2019 following the crashes of a Lion Air flight on Oct. 29, 2018, & an Ethiopian Airlines flight on March 10, 2019, which killed a total of 346 people.
In January 21, Boeing agreed to pay more than $2.5 billion in fines and compensation after reaching a deferred prosecution agreement with the U.S. Justice Department over the MAX crashes, which cost Boeing more than $20 billion.
The January agreement faulted Boeing's conduct and said it was holding the largest U.S. planemaker "accountable for its employees’ criminal misconduct."
That time, Department of Justice had released the statement ,
“The tragic crashes of Lion Air Flight 610 and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 exposed fraudulent and deceptive conduct by employees of one of the world’s leading commercial airplane manufacturers,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General David P. Burns of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division."
“Boeing’s employees chose the path of profit over candor by concealing material information from the FAA concerning the operation of its 737 Max airplane and engaging in an effort to cover up their deception."
"This resolution holds Boeing accountable for its employees’ criminal misconduct, addresses the financial impact to Boeing’s airline customers, and hopefully provides some measure of compensation to the crash-victims’ families and beneficiaries.”
In January , Boeing admitted in court documents that through two former employees it deceived the FAA about the MCAS.
In a repeat to the earlier statements, Prosecutors noted that a key FAA document lacked any reference to the MCAS, and as a result airplane manuals and pilot-training materials for U.S.-based airlines also lacked any reference.
In a lead, One November 2016 message from F***n*r said he was working at "jedi-mind tricking regulators into accepting the training that I got accepted by FAA."
If the FAA required pilot simulator training for MAX pilots, Boeing would have been required to pay Southwest Airlines nearly $400 million to offset the simulator-based pilot training requirements, a 2020 U.S. House of Representatives report said.
Ethiopian Ailines flight # 302, B737 -8 Max, crashes after takeoff from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia , killing all 157 pax aboard.
Later , in the run to re-certification, in 2019, the regulator FAA required simulator training before pilots could resume flying the MAX.
Now, considering all the aspects, F***n*r is charged with two counts of fraud involving aircraft parts in interstate commerce and four counts of wire fraud. He is expected to make his initial court appearance Friday in Fort Worth, Texas.
► Dec. - 1, 2010 : Airbus,france introduces the upgraded A320neo ,direct competitor of B737 NG .
► Aug - 30, 2011: Boeing comes up with announcement of the B737 Max programmes & models would be -7, -8 and -9.
► Nov. - 3, 2011: Within 2 months time,Boeing gets 600 order commitments from eight airlines.
► May - 20 ,2014: Boeing said in a presser that the Max programme has received around 2,000 orders worth $209 billions .
► October - 2014 : Boeing initiates production of B737 Max parts .
► August - 2015:The first B737 Max plane rolls off for the first time from the production line .
► January -2016 : B737 Max takes its first test flight to amaze the world.
► March -2017 : American regulator , FAA [ Federal Aviation Administration ] certifies the B737Max.
► May- 2017: Malindo Air,subsidiary of Indonesian budget airline Lion Air, is the launch customer of 737 Max .
► May- 22 , 2017: The B737 Max’s first commercial flight from Kuala Lumpur to Singapore .
► Oct. - 29, 2018: Lion Air flight # 610, Boeing 737 Max 8, crashes into the Java Sea, killing all 189 pax on board.
► November 2018: Indonesia's National Transportation Safety Committee issues preliminary investigation report on the accident indicating that the aircraft's system computer had received erroneous data on its takeoff vector from sensors.It highlighted a bulletin from Boeing instruction to pilots how to deactive an automated system [ read as MCAS] that could initiate a nose dive to prevent a stall in such cases .
► Nov-7, 2018: The FAA issues an AD [ airworthiness directive ] for B737 Max-8 and Max-9, warning that repeated nose-down commands from automated MCAS , if not deactivated, might make it difficult for pilots to control the aircraft .
► Nov-21, 2018 : Boeing statement : Cooperating with investigators and remains confident in the safety features of the B737 Max.
► March -10, 2019 : Ethiopian Ailines flight # 302, B737 -8 Max, crashes after takeoff from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia , killing all 157 pax aboard.
► March -12, 2019: Sen. Mitt Romney urges the FAA to follow the lead of the European Union, Indonesia and Australia by grounding the B737 Max-8.
► March-13, 2019 : FAA grounds the B737 Max aircrafts .
► April- 2, 2019 : Boeing promises a proper investigation from scratch using "thorough and methodical approach" to a patch for anti-stall software linked to MCAS triggering two crashes.
► April- 4, 2019: Boeing admits its anti-stall software MCAS is partly to blame for the two crashes & promises to rectify the malfunction." It's our responsibility to eliminate this risk ," says Muilenburg, the CEO. "We own it and we know how to do it."
► April - 8, 2019: American Airlines cancels 5,000 flights on the B737 Max, removing it from bookings through June 5.
► Oct. - 22, 2019 : Boeing choose Stan Deal to replace Kevin McAllister as “ head of Commercial Airplanes , Boeing” .
► Dec.- 23, 2019: Change of head : Muilenburg resigns as Boeing CEO . Boeing says independent chairman David Calhoun will take his place.
► Jan.- 9, 2020 : Internal disturbances : Boeing releases hundreds of internal messages that prompt further questions about the B737 Max's development,"This airplane is designed by clowns who in turn are supervised by monkeys," one employee wrote.
► Jan-13 , 2020 : David Calhoun takes the lead as Boeing's third CEO in the past five years .
► Jan- 29, 2020 : Boeing reports a full-year loss of $636 million for the year 2019, first of its kind on an annual basis since 1997.
► Feb.-4 , 2020: Bloomberg reports that Boeing has secured $13 billion to weather a potential cash crunch .
► Feb.-22, 2020: Reuters reports that Boeing inspections have found debris in dozens of fuel tanks on undelivered B737 Max planes.
► 29 June 2020 : Flight tests : The US aviation regulator [FAA] has started formal test flights for Boeing's troubled 737 Max. its first recertification flight , one of the final steps remaining before it can return to service.
► JUL-1 2020: The Federal Aviation Administration and Boeing have completed certification test flights on the 737 Max, a key milestone toward the plane’s return to service .
► Aug- 26, 2020 :Transport Canada became the first non-American Regulator to begin test flights of the B737 MAX.
► Sept.-11, 2020 : The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) has completed its test flights of the Boeing 737 Max aircraft ahead of its possible recertification and return to service later this year.
► Sept-14, 2020 : The top engineers overseeing the design of Boeing’s B737 Max told congressional investigators that they weren’t aware of key design decisions later identified as flaws in two fatal crashes .
► Sept-16 ,2020 : House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure decried "serious flaws & missteps in the design, development, & certification of the aircraft." ,Came heavily on 'FAA' & 'Boeing' .
► Sep-30, 2020 : Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Chief Steve Dickson conducted a nearly two-hour evaluation flight of a Boeing 737 MAX .
► Oct-7, 2020 : The Federal Aviation Administration has released a draft report proposing training requirements for 737 Max pilots, another step towards the agency’s certification of the grounded jet.
► Oct -16 , 2020 : European aviation regulator , EASA declares Boeing 737 MAX aircrafts safe to fly in Europe !
► Nov 18th /2020 : The Bird is free Now in U.S as well , FAA lifts the 20 months ban on Boeing 737 Max Aircrafts .
► December 9th 2020 : Brazilian GOL airlines becomes the first airline to resume scheduled flights of the Boeing 737 MAX since its grounding in 2019.
► December 29th 2020 : American Airlines resumes scheduled 737 MAX flights, the first U.S based airline to do so.
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