Boeing 737 MAX: regulator and aircraft manufacturer in confrontation

A missing piece to the puzzle has been provided. Written exchanges between Mark Forkner, who was commissioned by Boeing in 2016 to carry out the international certification of the 737 MAX, and one of his colleagues show that the defect of the MCAS was detected very early at the manufacturer.

Instant messages were exchanged between the staff members long before the crash of Lion Air's Boeing 737 MAX on October 29, 2018. After these new elements were revealed, the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) distanced itself from Boeing, whose aircrafts were still grounded.

The regulator now accuses the aircraft manufacturer of withholding important information about the effectiveness of MCAS. Another contentious issue is that a few months before the exchanges in question, Boeing had asked the FAA not to mention the MCAS in the flight manual.

In its defence, the manufacturer claims that the messages exchanged between its two employees were forwarded to the Department of Justice in February 2019, prior to the crash of the Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 MAX on March 10 of the same year. On October 30, 2019, Boeing CEO would appear before the congress in Washington. He would then have to provide detailed explanations.

So far, no firm order cancellations have been registered by the American manufacturer. According to the aircraft manufacturer, its setbacks currently amount to 8.4 billion USD. This figure was significantly revised upwards by Bank of America with an estimate of 17.2 billion USD in total damage.

* MCAS: Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS)