In messages with a colleague in 2016, a former chief technical pilot for the MAX said he had unintentionally misled regulators
By Andrew Tangel and Andy Pasztor Updated Oct. 18, 2019 8:48 pm ET A senior Boeing Co. BA -6.79% pilot raised concerns about a 737 MAX flight-control system three years ago, but the company didn’t alert federal regulators until 2019, months after two deadly crashes involving the same system, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.
David Gerger, an attorney for Mr. Forkner, said: “If you read the whole chat, it is obvious that there was no ‘lie’ and the simulator program was not operating properly. Based on what he was told, Mark thought the plane was safe, and the simulator would be fixed.” Late Friday, Mr DeFazio sent a letter to Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao saying he was “deeply troubled” by the documents he received, because they reflected “improper coziness between the regulator and regulated.”
At the end of the exchange, when the aviators complain that Boeing test pilots failed to alert them about the issues, Mr. Forkner responded: “They’re all so damn busy, and getting pressure from the program.” Separately, the FAA provided Mr. DeFazio’s committee with a batch of emails—covering the period from 2015 to 2018—between Mr. Forkner and unidentified FAA officials dealing with MAX issues.
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