Boeing suspends co-workers of pilot at centre of Max scrutiny

Bloomberg

Boeing Co put three employees who worked with the former chief technical pilot of the 737 Max on administrative leave as a federal grand jury investigates whether he intentionally misled the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) about a software system tied to two deadly crashes, people familiar with the matter said.
The employees were notified of the action, according to the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive personnel matters.
Meanwhile, as part of a US criminal investigation, the grand jury has been examining statements made to the FAA by the former chief technical pilot, Mark Forkner, one person said.
Forkner has been at the centre of the Max controversy since October, when Boeing released internal messages in which he expressed worry over misleading the agency about the new software. He also discussed “Jedi mind tricking” regulators outside the US into accepting the training requirements for the new plane.
Boeing released more internal messages in January, provoking an outcry from Congressional investigators and victims’ families over comments in which employees mocked regulators and seemed to suggest a cavalier attitude towards safety. The names of the employees were redacted. “This airplane is designed by clowns, who in turn are supervised by monkeys,” one employee wrote. “Would you put your family on a Max simulator trained aircraft? I wouldn’t,” an employee said in another message.
Under Chief Executive Officer Dave Calhoun, who took over for the ousted Dennis Muilenburg last month, the planemaker has pledged to restore public trust. The personnel moves come after Calhoun vowed to stamp out the disturbing behaviour revealed in the messages. In a call with reporters, he called them “totally appalling” and said they were part of a “micro-culture” that doesn’t reflect the company’s values. A statement at the time the messages were released said Boeing would take “appropriate action” ultimately including disciplinary moves.
A Boeing spokesman declined to comment on the personnel moves.
The New York Times earlier reported that prosecutors have questioned several Boeing employees in front of the grand jury in recent months about whether Forkner deliberately misled FAA officials. “Boeing is cooperating with the Justice Department investigation,” said Gordon Johndroe, a Boeing spokesman.
The Justice Department declined to comment.
The Max, Boeing’s top-selling plane, has been grounded worldwide for almost a year, costing one of the largest US exporters nearly $19 billion and disrupting the global aviation industry.
A criminal investigation began weeks after the October 2018 crash of a Max operated by Lion Air and became public after another Max flown by Ethiopian Airlines crashed in March near Addis Ababa.
The accidents killed a total of 346 people and led to unprecedented scrutiny of a century-old company whose name is nearly synonymous with flight. The investigation is being conducted in part by the Transportation Department’s Inspector General’s office, and the Justice Department’s Criminal Division in Washington is using a grand jury to help gather information, Bloomberg has reported.
In messages to a colleague in 2016, Forkner expressed worry that he had misled the FAA on how the system implicated in both crashes, known as the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS), worked. Initially, Boeing engineers designed MCAS to activate only at high speeds.