A former Boeing test pilot indicted Thursday for failing to pass on important information to the US aviation regulator, the FAA, during the certification of the 737 MAX does not want to become a "
scapegoat
", said his lawyer Friday October 15.
See also Boeing expects a continued increase in air traffic in Europe
Mark Forkner, 49, is the first person to be prosecuted in the investigation into the causes of two 737 MAX crashes in 2018 and 2019 that killed 346.
"
This tragedy deserves that we seek the truth - not a scapegoat
," said his lawyer, David Gerger, in a message sent to AFP.
"
If the government really takes this case to justice, the truth will show that Mark did not cause this tragedy, that he did not lie and that he should not be charged,
" he added.
"
False, inaccurate and incomplete information
"
Mark Forkner was indicted Thursday by a grand jury in Texas.
He is accused of having provided the FAA with "
false, inaccurate and incomplete information
" on a change made to the MCAS flight control software, implicated in the two tragedies.
And for doing it to save Boeing money.
In a message to a colleague revealed in 2019, he notably indicated that the software made the plane difficult to fly in a simulator.
But he deliberately chose not to share this information with the FAA, which had led the regulator not to require specific training of pilots and not to include reference to MCAS in training documents.
Read alsoThe Boeing 787 facing a new manufacturing defect
Boeing has already acknowledged its responsibility in the manipulation of the authorities and agreed in January to pay more than $ 2.5 billion to settle certain lawsuits. But no one had yet been prosecuted in this case. Representatives of the families of victims also estimated Friday that Mark Forkner was above all a "
scapegoat
".
“
Boeing organized a system to reward short-term financial gains and Mark Forkner was operating within this system,
” commented Nadia Milleron, the mother of one of the victims of the Ethiopian Airlines crash in March 2019. “
Prosecutors can and should look for other people responsible for these accidents.
All families who have lost someone feel the same: Boeing executives and board of directors should all go to jail,
”she added in a statement forwarded by a representative of the defending law firm. families of victims.
