Mark Forkner, former test pilot for Boeing, pleaded not guilty to charges that he withheld information related to safety issues with the 737 Max Jetliner, which was involved in two fatal crashes that left hundreds dead.
Fort Worth, Texas, Forkner appeared before a federal magistrate judge in federal court in Fort Worth, Texas, on Friday.
After his plea, Forkner was immediately released and left with his wife and attorneys in the courthouse.
According to NBC5 news, everyone who was affected by this tragedy deserves search for the truth, not search for a scapegoat, said defense attorney David Gerger. If the government takes this case to trial, the truth will show that Mark did not cause this tragedy, Mark did not lie, and Mark should not be charged. Forkner's Thursday indictment charges that he hid information about a flight control system that was pushed down the noses of Max jets that crashed in Indonesia in 2018 and again in Ethiopia in 2019. The pilots tried unsuccessfully to regain control, but both planes went into nose dive minutes after taking off.
Forkner was Boeing's chief technical pilot for the Max program. Prosecutors said that Forkner learned about an important change to the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System flight control system in 2016 but withheld the information from the FAA. That led the agency to delete a reference to MCAS from a technical report and, in turn, it didn't appear in pilot manuals. Most pilots didn t know about the MCAS until after the first crash.
Prosecutors suggested that Forkner downplayed the issue to avoid a requirement that pilots undergo extensive and expensive retraining, which would increase costs for airlines. Congressional investigators suggested additional training would have added $500,000 to the price of each plane.
The Chicago based Boeing agreed to terminate a Justice Department investigation into Boeing s actions. The government bragged to drop a criminal charge of conspiracy against Boeing after three years if the company carries out terms of a January 2020 settlement.
A trial date has been set for Nov. 15. If convicted on all counts, Forkner could face up to 100 years in prison.