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Boeing Pilot Complained of ‘Egregious’ Issue With 737 Max in 2016 Boeing Pilot Complained of ‘Egregious’ Issue With 737 Max in 2016
(about 1 hour later)
A Boeing pilot working on the 737 Max said in messages from 2016 that a new automated system was making the plane difficult to control in flight simulators, more than two years before it was grounded following two deadly crashes. For months, Boeing has said it had no idea that a new automated system in the 737 Max jet, which played a role in two fatal crashes, was unsafe.
The existence of the messages strike at a central part of Boeing’s defense over how the plane was certified to fly. For months, the company has maintained that the Max was certified in accordance with all appropriate regulations, suggesting that there was no indication that MCAS was unsafe. But on Friday, the company gave lawmakers a transcript revealing that a top pilot working on the plane had raised concerns about the system in messages to a colleague in 2016, more than two years before the Max was grounded because of the accidents, which left 346 people dead.
Yet in the messages, the pilot, Mark Forkner, complained that the system, known as MCAS, was causing him trouble in a flight simulator. “It’s running rampant in the sim,” he wrote to a colleague. The messages are from November 2016, months before the Max was certified by the Federal Aviation Administration. In the messages, the pilot, Mark Forkner, who played a central role in the development of the plane, complained that the system, known as MCAS, was acting unpredictably in a flight simulator: “It’s running rampant.”
“Granted, I suck at flying, but even this was egregious,” he went on to say, according to a transcript of the exchange reviewed on Friday by The New York Times. The messages are from November 2016, months before the Max was certified by the Federal Aviation Administration. “Granted, I suck at flying, but even this was egregious,” he said sardonically to a colleague, according to a transcript of the exchange reviewed on Friday by The New York Times.
[Read the messages.] The Max crisis has consumed Boeing, and the revelation of the messages from Mr. Forkner comes at a particularly sensitive time. The company’s chief executive, Dennis A. Muilenburg, is scheduled to testify before two congressional committees, on Oct. 29 and Oct. 30, the first time a Boeing executive has appeared at a hearing related to the crashes. Boeing’s stock lost 7 percent of its value on Friday, adding to the financial fallout.
The 737 Max was grounded earlier this year after crashing twice in five months, killing 346 people. In both cases, MCAS malfunctioned based on erroneous data, sending the planes into unrecoverable nose dives. The existence of the messages strike at Boeing’s defense that it had done nothing wrong regarding the Max because regulators had cleared the plane to fly, and potentially increases the company’s legal exposure as it faces civil and criminal investigations and multiple lawsuits related to both crashes. Facing competition from Airbus, Boeing worked to produce the Max as quickly as possible, striving to minimize costly training for pilots. Last week, a task force of 10 international regulators released a report that found that Boeing had not fully explained MCAS to the F.A.A.
Mr. Forkner was the chief technical pilot for the 737 Max and in charge of communicating with the F.A.A. group that determined how pilots would be trained before flying the plane. The Times previously reported that Mr. Forkner had failed to tell the F.A.A. that the original version of MCAS was being overhauled, leaving regulators with the impression that the system was relatively benign and would only be used in rare cases. [Read the messages between the Boeing pilot and his colleague about the MCAS issue.]
In the messages, Mr. Forkner states that during tests, the simulator reflected unexpected movements by the plane through a process called trimming. “This is more evidence that Boeing misled pilots, government regulators and other aviation experts about the safety of the 737 Max,” Jon Weaks, president of the Southwest Airlines Pilots Association, said in a statement on Friday.
Boeing has maintained that the Max was certified in accordance with all appropriate regulations, suggesting that there was no sign that MCAS was unsafe.
That contention was central to the company’s rationale in not grounding the Max after the crash of Lion Air Flight 610 last October, and in waiting days to recommend grounding the plane after the second crash, of Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 in March.
It was only after data suggested that MCAS played a role in the second crash that Boeing and the F.A.A. decided to ground the Max.
Mr. Forkner was the chief technical pilot for the Max and was in charge of communicating with the F.A.A. group that determined how pilots would be trained before flying it. He helped Boeing convince international regulators that the Max was safe to fly.
In the messages, he said that during tests in 2016, the simulator showed the plane making unexpected movements through a process called trimming.
“The plane is trimming itself like craxy,” he wrote to Patrik Gustavsson, a fellow 737 technical pilot at Boeing. “I’m like WHAT?”“The plane is trimming itself like craxy,” he wrote to Patrik Gustavsson, a fellow 737 technical pilot at Boeing. “I’m like WHAT?”
Mr. Forkner went on to say that he had lied to the Federal Aviation Administration. Mr. Forkner went on to say that he had lied to the F.A.A.
“I basically lied to the regulators (unknowingly),” Mr. Forkner says in the messages, though it was not clear what he was specifically referring to.“I basically lied to the regulators (unknowingly),” Mr. Forkner says in the messages, though it was not clear what he was specifically referring to.
Eight months earlier, Mr. Forkner had asked the F.A.A. if it would be O.K. to remove mention of MCAS from the pilot’s manual. The F.A.A., which at the time believed the system would only activate in rare cases and wasn’t particularly dangerous, approved Mr. Forkner’s request. Lawmakers, regulators and pilots responded with swift condemnation on Friday.
[The New York Times was the first to report on Mr. Forkner’s role in the development of the 737 Max and his request to the F.A.A.]
“This is the smoking gun,” Representative Peter DeFazio, Democrat of Oregon, said in an interview. “This is no longer just a regulatory failure and a culture failure. It’s starting to look like criminal misconduct.”“This is the smoking gun,” Representative Peter DeFazio, Democrat of Oregon, said in an interview. “This is no longer just a regulatory failure and a culture failure. It’s starting to look like criminal misconduct.”
As chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, Mr. DeFazio’s office is overseeing the investigation into the crashes. Senator Richard Blumenthal, Democrat of Connecticut, said he expected answers from Boeing’s chief executive and board of directors.
Mr. DeFazio said he had reviewed other internal Boeing documents and emails that suggested employees were under pressure to produce planes as fast as possible and avoid additional pilot training. “They must be held accountable if Boeing was deceptive or misleading in failing to report safety concerns,” Mr. Blumenthal said in an interview. “What these reports indicate is that Boeing’s own employees lied and concealed the truth.”
“Boeing cannot say this is about one person,” Mr. DeFazio said. “This is about a cultural failure at Boeing under pressure from Wall Street to just get this thing out there and make sure that you don’t open the door to further pilot training.” The F.A.A. administrator, Stephen Dickson, sent Mr. Muilenburg a letter Friday morning demanding that the company account for why it had not provided the messages to the agency earlier.
Shares of Boeing fell on Friday, ending the day down by nearly 7 percent. “I expect your explanation immediately regarding the content of this document and Boeing’s delay in disclosing the document to its safety regulator,” Mr. Dickson wrote.
A Boeing spokesman, Gordon Johndroe, said the company was “voluntarily cooperating” with the congressional investigation and provided the messages to lawmakers as part of that process. He noted that the company gave the messages to the Department of Justice, which is conducting a criminal investigation into Boeing, earlier this year.
A Boeing spokesman said the company did not give the messages to the F.A.A. earlier because of the ongoing criminal investigation.
The Max has been grounded for more than seven months, and airlines do not expect to fly it again this year. The F.A.A. and Boeing have repeatedly pushed back the expected date of the plane’s return to service as regulators and the company uncover new problems with the plane.
The crisis has already cost Boeing more than $8 billion. It has disrupted expansion plans for airlines around the world, which have had to cancel thousands of flights and lost hundreds of millions of dollars in sales.
The Times, which was the first to disclose Mr. Forkner’s involvement in the plane, previously reported that he had failed to tell the F.A.A. that the original version of MCAS was being overhauled, leaving regulators with the impression that the system was relatively benign and would be used only in rare cases.
Eight months before the messages were exchanged, Mr. Forkner had asked the F.A.A. if it would be O.K. to remove mention of MCAS from the pilot’s manual. The F.A.A., which at the time believed the system would activate only in rare cases and wasn’t dangerous, approved Mr. Forkner’s request.
[The New York Times was the first to report on Mr. Forkner’s role in the development of the 737 Max and his request to the F.A.A.]
Another exchange, in a batch of emails among Mr. Forkner, Boeing colleagues and F.A.A. officials, was also reviewed by The Times on Friday. In one email from November 2016, Mr. Forkner wrote that he was “jedi-mind tricking regulators into accepting the training that I got accepted by F.A.A.”
A lawyer for Mr. Forkner downplayed the importance of the messages, suggesting Mr. Forkner was talking about issues with the simulator.A lawyer for Mr. Forkner downplayed the importance of the messages, suggesting Mr. Forkner was talking about issues with the simulator.
“If you read the whole chat, it is obvious that there was no ‘lie’ and the simulator program was not operating properly,” the lawyer, David Gerger, said in a statement. “Based on what he was told, Mark thought the plane was safe, and the simulator would be fixed.”“If you read the whole chat, it is obvious that there was no ‘lie’ and the simulator program was not operating properly,” the lawyer, David Gerger, said in a statement. “Based on what he was told, Mark thought the plane was safe, and the simulator would be fixed.”
Flight simulators replicate real cockpits and are used to test planes during development. They can sometimes behave unpredictably, depending on their configuration.Flight simulators replicate real cockpits and are used to test planes during development. They can sometimes behave unpredictably, depending on their configuration.
Mr. Forkner, who is now a pilot for Southwest Airlines, and Mr. Gustavsson did not respond to requests for comment.Mr. Forkner, who is now a pilot for Southwest Airlines, and Mr. Gustavsson did not respond to requests for comment.
Reuters was first to report on the existence of the transcript. Boeing provided the transcript to lawmakers on Capitol Hill on Friday morning, in advance of the hearings this month at which Mr. Muilenburg will testify about the crashes for the first time. Reuters was first to report on the existence of the transcript.
Boeing provided the transcript to lawmakers on Capitol Hill on Friday morning, in advance of hearings this month at which the company’s chief executive, Dennis A. Muilenburg, will testify about the crashes for the first time. Mr. DeFazio, who as chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee is overseeing the investigation into the crashes, said he had reviewed other internal Boeing documents and emails that suggested employees were under pressure to produce planes as fast as possible and avoid additional pilot training.
Boeing had provided the transcript earlier this year to the Department of Justice, which is conducting a criminal investigation, according to two people familiar with the communications who spoke on condition of anonymity because the exchange was not yet public. “Boeing cannot say this is about one person,” Mr. DeFazio said. “This is about a cultural failure at Boeing under pressure from Wall Street to just get this thing out there and make sure that you don’t open the door to further pilot training.”
The F.A.A. administrator, Stephen Dickson, sent Mr. Muilenburg a letter Friday morning demanding that the company account for why it did not provide the messages to the agency earlier.
“I expect your explanation immediately regarding the content of this document and Boeing’s delay in disclosing the document to its safety regulator,” Mr. Dickson wrote.
A Boeing spokesman, Gordon Johndroe, said the company was “voluntarily cooperating” with the congressional investigation and provided the messages to lawmakers as part of that process.
Jon Weaks, president of Southwest Airlines Pilots Association, said in a statement that “this is more evidence that Boeing misled pilots, government regulators and other aviation experts about the safety of the 737 Max.”
“It is clear that the company’s negligence and fraud put the flying public at risk,” Mr. Weaks added. “As pilots, we have to be able to trust Boeing to truthfully disclose the information we need to safely operate our aircraft. In the case of the 737 MAX, that absolutely did not happen.”