By Amber Pavucsko, Staff Writer
On October 29, 2018, Lion Air Flight 610 took off from an airport in Jakarta, Indonesia.[1] A few minutes after take-off, the flight began flying erratically with up and down movements.[2] The instruments displaying the airspeed and altitude were not working properly.[3] The aircraft began to experience a forced nose-dive and despite the pilots’ efforts, it crashed into the sea killing all 189 people on board.[4]
The airplane was the new Boeing 737 MAX 8, the fastest plane Boeing had sold.[5] The MAX 8 was designed to be more fuel efficient. The plane’s engines were made bigger and moved to a different position.[6] Because of the change, the plane’s nose tended to pitch upward during certain flight conditions like stalls.[7] An automated system called MCAS was installed in the MAX 8 to help pilots recover.[8] The MCAS system relied on only one of two sensors which were on both sides of the nose of the airplane.[9] If it sensed that the nose’s angle was too high relative to the rest of the aircraft, it would force the nose down.[10]
On Flight 610, that sensor malfunctioned and erroneously indicated the plane’s nose was too high.[11] MCAS kicked in and started forcing the nose down.[12] Pilots were not trained to deal with MCAS, and the system was not mentioned in the manual.[13] After the crash, neither the FAA nor Boeing mentioned the MCAS, but informed pilots on how to deal with the other issues the failed sensor caused, but it wasn’t enough.[14]
On March 10, 2019, Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 crashed largely due to the complexities of MCAS, all 157 people on board were killed.[15] The FAA eventually grounded the relevant Boeing 737 MAX aircrafts.[16]Investigations then began to find out why Boeing was allowed to include MCAS in the new 737 MAX aircrafts without fully informing airlines and pilots of the system.
From the beginning, Boeing did not want the MCAS to be defined as a new function so it could avoid additional costly training for pilots.[17] Although FAA initially approved MCAS, it was later redesigned in March 2016 to have greater flight authority to prevent stalls.[18] This was largely due to the decreasing regulations of manufacturers which allowed them greater control but lack of oversight.[19] Just hours after the approved redesign by Boeing, Boeing’s chief technical pilot Mark Forkner, who is in charge of communications with the FAA, asked for references to the MCAS be removed from the flight manual.[20] The argument was that the system was an automatic feature that ran without pilot input and the conditions needed for the MCAS to activate were extremely rare.[21] The House Committee could not answer whether the redesign was known by Forkner when he asked this.[22] In September 2021, federal prosecutors looked to indict Mark Forkner in connection with the plane crashes.[23]
The indictment alleged that in June 2015, Boeing, with Forkner in attendance, informed the FAA that MCAS would only operate at high-speeds.[24] In November 2016, Forkner experienced the MCAS operating at a significantly lower speed than reported to the FAA.[25] Forkner texted another employee admitting that he “basically lied to the regulators (unknowingly)” and got confirmation that the system did operate at lower speeds from an engineer.[26]Forkner was under tremendous pressure to get the new aircraft approved by the FAA without the need for additional training.[27] In 2017, Forkner talked many foreign airlines, including Lion Air, out of simulator training saying, “I want to stress the importance of holding firm that there will not be any type of simulator training required to transition…Boeing will not let that happen. We’ll go face to face with any regulator that tries to make that a requirement.”[28]
Forkner was indicted on all six charges for withholding material facts by not mentioning the lower speed activation when meeting with the FAA, not mentioning it when receiving the final report for the aircraft, and asking twice for any reference to the MCAS to be deleted in the report.[29] Forkner has pleaded not guilty and his attorney maintains that he is a scapegoat for Boeing and the FAA.[30] Boeing entered into a settlement agreement with the Department of Justice to resolve criminal charges for defrauding the FAA.[31]
[1] The Majority Staff of the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, Final Committee Report on the Design, Development, and Certification of the Boeing 737 MAX, 1, 5, https://transportation.house.gov/imo/media/doc/2020.09.15%20FINAL%20737%20MAX%20Report%20for%20Public%20Release.pdf [hereinafter Committee Report].
[2] Id.
[3] Id. at 195.
[4] See id. at 5.
[5] https://boeing.mediaroom.com/news-releases-statements?item=129894
[6] See Committee Report, 42, 87.
[7] See id. at 42–43.
[8] See id. at 43.
[9] Id. at 88.
[10] If the nose pitches up too high it can lose air flow needed to lift the plane which will result in a stall. By pushing the nose down, the aircraft can regain the flow of air. See id. at 9, 88.
[11] https://aviation-is.better-than.tv/737%20MAX%202018%20-%20035%20-%20PK-LQP%20Final%20Report.pdf
[12] MCAS only activates when it senses the nose is too high, the flaps are up (flaps are movable surfaces on an airplane’s wings that are sometimes used on takeoff), and the autopilot is disengaged. See id. at 118, 220.
[13] See id. at 20, 145.
[14] See id. at 28.
[15] See https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/04/what-passengers-experienced-on-the-ethiopian-airlines-flight.html
[16] https://www.faa.gov/newsroom/faa-updates-boeing-737-max-0
[17] See Committee Report, 86
[18] Id. at 103.
[19] See https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/27/business/boeing-737-max-faa.html; see also Committee Report, 101
[20] Committee Report, 86.
[21] See id. at 27, 92 n.551.
[22] See id. at 20.
[23] https://www.wsj.com/articles/former-boeing-pilot-expected-to-face-prosecution-in-737-max-probe-11631845255?mod=hp_lead_pos3
[24] https://www.justice.gov/opa/press-release/file/1442191/download
[25] Id.
[26] Id.
[27] Committee Report, 154–57.
[28] Id. at 156.
[29] https://www.justice.gov/opa/press-release/file/1442191/download; https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/former-boeing-737-max-chief-technical-pilot-indicted-fraud.
[30] https://www.star-telegram.com/news/local/crime/article255301546.html
[31] https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/boeing-charged-737-max-fraud-conspiracy-and-agrees-pay-over-25-billion
