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U.S. NEWS Saturday 19 OctOber 2019

Messages from former Boeing test pilot reveal Max concerns

By DAVID KOENIG training that I got accept-
AP Airlines Writer ed by FAA."
DALLAS (AP) — A former se- The disclosure of the inter-
nior Boeing test pilot told a nal Boeing communica-
co-worker that he unknow- tions comes just a week
ingly misled safety regula- after international regula-
tors about problems with tors faulted the company
a flight-control system that for not doing more to keep
would later be implicated FAA informed about MCAS,
in two deadly crashes of a new automated flight sys-
the company's 737 Max. tem that was not included
The pilot, Mark Forkner, told in previous versions of the
another Boeing employee 737.
in 2016 that the flight sys- Before crashes in Indone-
tem, called MCAS, was sia and Ethiopia, MCAS
"egregious" and "running was activated by a single
rampant" while he tested it faulty sensor and pushed
in a flight simulator. the nose of each plane
"So I basically lied to the down. Pilots were unable
regulators (unknowingly)," to regain control. The idea
wrote Forkner, then Boe- In this May 8, 2019, file photo a Boeing 737 MAX 8 jetliner being built for Turkish Airlines takes off that a plane could crash
ing's chief technical pilot on a test flight in Renton, Wash. because of one bad sen-
for the 737. Associated Press sor — with no backup — is
The exchange occurred as Congress and the Trans- wrote in a terse, three-sen- the flight simulator was not emerging as a key criticism
Boeing was trying to con- portation Department late tence letter to Muilenburg. working like the plane. of Boeing's design of the
vince the Federal Aviation Thursday, and the reaction In a statement, the FAA "If you read the whole chat, Max and FAA's certification
Administration that MCAS was swift and negative. said it "finds the substance it is obvious that there was of the plane.
was safe. MCAS was de- "We have received hun- of the document concern- no 'lie,'" he said. "Mark's "We weren't sure whether
signed at least in part to dreds of thousands of ing" and is deciding what career — at Air Force, at to blame FAA or Boeing or
prevent the Max from stall- pages of documents from action to take in response. FAA, and at Boeing — was a combination" for the so-
ing in some situations. The Boeing, but not this one. Boeing turned over the about safety. And based called single point of fail-
FAA certified the plane This was intentionally with- transcript to the Justice De- on everything he knew, ure, DeFazio said. "Things
without fully understand- held from us, which is ab- partment earlier this year he absolutely thought this have just tilted very, very
ing MCAS, according to a solutely outrageous," House but gave it to Congress plane was safe." heavily in terms of Boeing
panel of international safe- Transportation Committee only this week in anticipa- Separate Boeing docu- and deliberate conceal-
ty regulators. Chairman Peter DeFazio, tion of Muilenburg's sched- ments that were dis- ment."
Forkner also lobbied FAA D-Ore., said in an interview uled Oct. 30 testimony be- closed Friday also out- Boeing is updating soft-
to remove mention of Friday. He called it a smok- fore DeFazio's committee, lined Forkner's role in com- ware and computers to
MCAS from the operating ing gun of Boeing wrong- according to a person fa- municating with the FAA tie MCAS to two sensors in-
manual and pilot training doing. miliar with the matter. and removing mention of stead of one, and to make
for the Max, saying the sys- FAA Administrator Stephen Boeing, in a prepared MCAS from pilot-training the nose-down command
tem would only operate in Dickson demanded an ex- statement, said the tran- requirements for the Max. less powerful and easier for
rare circumstances. FAA al- planation from Boeing CEO script contained the com- When the FAA agreed, that pilots to overcome.
lowed Boeing to do so, and Dennis Muilenburg, includ- munications of a former helped Boeing sell the Max Boeing issued a statement
most pilots did not know ing why the company de- employee. Although Boe- by holding down the cost Friday afternoon, saying
about MCAS until after the layed several months be- ing didn't identify Forkner, airlines would incur to re- that its CEO had called
first crash, which occurred fore telling FAA about the he left last year and joined train their crews. FAA Administrator Dickson
in October 2018 in Indone- messages. Southwest Airlines — the In a November 2016 email to respond to his concerns.
sia. The plane was ground- "I expect your explanation biggest operator of the to an FAA employee whose "Mr. Muilenburg assured
ed worldwide in March immediately regarding the Boeing 737. identity was blacked out, the Administrator that we
after the second crash, in content of this document Forkner's lawyer, David Forkner indicated he was are taking every step possi-
Ethiopia. and Boeing's delay in dis- Gerger, said that Forkner traveling around the world, ble to safely return the MAX
Boeing turned over a tran- closing the document to its was indicating in mes- "jedi-mind tricking regu- to service," the company
script of the messages to safety regulator," Dickson sages to a colleague that lators into accepting the said.q