DOJ Says Boeing Favored Aircraft Production Over Quality Assurance In Finalization Of Plea Deal

After a lengthy process, Boeing has finalized a guilty plea to a fraud charge over the 737 MAX crashes a few years ago. The manufacturer was criticized by the US government for prioritizing production over safety.

Guilty plea finalized

In 2018, a Lion Air Boeing 737 MAX 8 crashed just 13 minutes after takeoff in Jakarta. It was the deadliest accident involving a 737 in history and took the lives of 189 people, every single person on board. Months later, in March 2019, an Ethiopian Airlines MAX 8 crashed into a field, six minutes after takeoff. Every person on the aircraft died.

Photo: Vincenzo Pace | Simple Flying

Earlier this week, Boeing finalized its guilty plea to a criminal fraud charge over the 737 MAX aircraft. The manufacturer said that it misled Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) officials in the certification process for the new planes. Boeing breached an agreement that was made with the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) in 2021 and will now pay at least $243 million as part of its guilty plea, which had been agreed in principle earlier this month.

The final decision is in the hands of Judge Reed O’Connor, who works in the US District Court. He can either accept the deal that was reached between the prosecutors and Boeing, or force them to restart negotiations. For years, Boeing has been criticized for prioritizing production over safety, and it has essentially admitted to that. Through the deal, Boeing has agreed to hire an independent compliance monitor, face three years of probation, invest at least $455 million in compliance, quality, and safety programs, in addition to the $243 million payment.

According to Reuters, Boeing confirmed that it had filed its plea agreement with the DOJ,

“We will continue to work transparently with out regulators as we take significant actions across Boeing to further strengthen our safety, quality, and compliance programs.”

Boeing is facing a lawsuit from the family members of the victims that died in the crashes, and Paul Cassell, one of the lawyers for the families criticized the deal. Cassell said,

“The plea has all the problems in it that the families feared it would have. We will file a strong objections to the preferential and sweetheart treatment Boeing is receiving.”

What happened?

Immediately after the crashes, the FAA stood its ground and said the MAX 8 was airworthy. Three days after the second crash, the planes were grounded and former US President Donald Trump ordered a worldwide grounding of all MAX aircraft until the issue was resolved. An investigation in Ethiopia showed that the pilots had followed procedures to override the automated stabilization system as the plane was forced into a dive. Eventually, Boeing admitted it was an issue with the MCAS system.

Photo: BlueBarronPhoto | Shutterstock

It was revealed that Boeing had not been forthcoming with all of the details of the systems with its own test pilots. Despite this, Mark Forkner, one of the top technical pilots, discovered an issue in 2016. But earlier, Forkner had received authorization from the FAA to remove any mention of MCAS from the pilot manual. This omission, and the differences between the previous generation of Boeing aircraft and the MAX, led to two accidents and to severely increased scrutiny from the FAA which continues to this day.

Following the incident with the Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 9 in January this year, Boeing has been under heavy fire. The manufacturer revealed lapses in its safety and production and has made significant changes in leadership, with the Boeing Company CEO and Boeing Commercial Airplanes CEO announcing they would retire and step down. As a result of several troublesome years, the company has faced a very difficult year in terms of plane orders and manufacturing numbers.

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