Fort Worth (WBAP/KLIF) – A former Boeing test pilot from Keller accused of misleading federal air-safety regulators about the 737 MAX jets heads to court today in Fort Worth
Mark Forkner was the jet’s chief technical pilot during its development phase. Federal prosecutors alleged that he lied about the plane’s flight control system before two deadly crashes in 2018 and 2019 that claimed 346 lives.
The incidents triggered a two-year grounding of the jets.
According to court documents, the 49-year old Forkner allegedly deceived the FAA Aircraft Evaluation Division during the agency’s evaluation and certification of Boeing’s 737 MAX airplane. As alleged in the indictment, Forkner provided the agency 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). Because of his alleged deception, a key document published by the agency lacked any reference to MCAS. In turn, airplane manuals and pilot-training materials for U.S.-based airlines lacked any reference to MCAS — and Boeing’s U.S.-based airline customers were deprived of important information when making and finalizing their decisions to pay Boeing tens of millions of dollars for 737 MAX airplanes.
Last October, Forkner was indicted by a federal grand jury on four counts of deceiving safety regulators who were evaluating the plane. In February a federal judge dismissed two of those charges.
Forkner’s lawyers plan to argue that he is being singled out as the scapegoat for broader aviation disasters.
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