Before everyone leaps in about "blaming some poor engineer" - he sent emails/texts bragging about how he had tricked the FDA by fixing simulator tests.

Career advice for prospective BOFH: whether you're rigging LIBOR or denying the existence of MCAS - don't leave an email trail.

That's important information - and really needs a source to be cited.

That's important information - and really needs a source to be cited. Those statements:

"jedi-mind tricking regulators into accepting the training that I got accepted by FAA etc."

"so I basically lied to regulators (unknowingly)."

Were covered extensively 2 years ago in the Washing Post, Seattle Times, The Air Current, The Guardian, New York Times, Reuters, and dozens of other news organisations and aviation-dedicated sites around the world. e.g. [1]Washington Post . For anyone who followed the 737 MAX saga, even peripherally, it's gotta almost be common knowledge as it was extensively reported on, brought out in Senate and House hearings, and so on.

[1] https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/trafficandcommuting/faas-lax-oversight-played-part-in-boeing-737-max-crashes-but-agency-is-pushing-to-become-more-industry-friendly/2019/10/27/bc0bf184-f4e1-11e9-ad8b-85e2aa00b5ce_story.html

Thanks for this info. I just wanted to write something about a pawn sacrifice. However, I still think that this test pilot was under huge pressure from bean counters who will be left untouched. At the end of the day, just always do the right thing - even if it means ruining your career and not knowing how to pay for your kids' education.

Yeah.

>At the end of the day, just always do the right thing - even if it means ruining your career

If you are chief test pilot for Boeing and you say "this plane is unsafe" AND then they fire you = you get enough money from the settlement to never work again + you probably get to be next director of the FAA + you get on every talk show work and become a celebrity

The real danger of the industry is that by the time you are "chief test pilot" you are so inside in the industry that you would do anything for the Boeing. The bigger danger is that most people at the FAA are the same. The really big danger is that the NTSB is going that way.

You are probably right (no sarcasm).

The West has become a funny place. There was a moral code there somewhere between the 50s and the 80s.

Enter Gordon Gekko. *Pouff!*

I think the NTSB and other regulatory agencies get "captured" slowly over time, but when something big like this happens it breaks that up as politicians pay long overdue attention to it and nominate someone to "clean house" (which probably makes some of the rats flee in advance)

It'll get captured again, but probably not for a couple decades, not until almost everyone has forgotten about the 737 Max fiasco and those who do think "we fixed things so something like that will never happen again".

With aviation I think it got even worse.

The NTSB were created because the FAA's remit was to promote air travel AND enforce safety - so every safety issue had to be resolved in a way that didn't harm the perception of air safety, ie. it was always the dead pilot's fault

Then there was a claim that post 9/11 the was an attitude that any criticism of Boeing was unpatriotic because B52s were vital in the war on terror.

I've read his comments. Many of them were messages on a Teams-like messaging tools with his co-workers. It didn't help when he called the FAA technical team "nodding dogs".

Although it's very tempting to send scathing sarcastic emails to team leaders, before you send any controversial emails, just think how you'd feel having the email read back to you in court. Then imagine how your team leader will react when you defecate in their email inbox while trying to deflect blame for the fuckup.

And imagine how few people will be on your "side" when it can be shown that your actions contributed to the death of hundreds

So this is basically the Ford Pinto all over again?:

https://www.popularmechanics.com/cars/a6700/top-automotive-engineering-failures-ford-pinto-fuel-tanks/

"Ford neglected to add reinforcements to protect the easily ruptured fuel tank, endangering drivers while earning the Pinto a reputation for catching fire that persists today. The automaker's public relations black eye lasted for years."

'Disgusted' does not even begin to cover my feelings at the moment.

No this is worse.

You could argue that the Pinto's fuel tank needed more protection - but you can always add more protection, more airbags, more safety features etc etc.

This is like having a hot exhaust pipe going through the middle of the fuel tank and then solving this by having an accelerator pedal that stops working if it gets too hot. And a single temperature sensor and not telling the driver.

The 'e' in email stands for 'evidence', as the legal counsel for a large software company once told me.

Tricking the FDA? Think you're posting on the wrong thread, this is about aviation, not food and drugs.

Sorry: Phone+Brain autocomplete = I work in medical devices

... doh ....

stupid computers cannot spell and autocorrect just proves it

I hope he kept the flimsies from Reacher Gilt

According to Reuters he wrote in 2016 that he was "Jedi-mind tricking regulators" into accepting inadequate pilot re-training.

With the Dark Side, this one is.

(Icon just about close enough to Darth Maul to pass muster)

I am willing to bet Forkner wasn't the only one to have been in favour of pulling the wool over the regulator's eyes.

A pity they are not all answering for this.

Surprisingly crisp, clear writing ... a rarity these days.

Nice job!

"Boeing is still hoping airlines start placing more orders for the jets."

I'm not.

So will Boeing stand by their man and defend him (regardless of what he wrote), or throw him under the bus?

Even if he gayfully wrote that he had fooled the regulators, everyone above him who read his email should be complicit in what happened.

With the wonders of MCAS floating, like scum, to the surface yet again I'm left wondering how long it will take for NASA to realize that Boeing's Starliner, given its history of poorly tested software, faulty fuel control valves and late delivery, may not be the safest or cheapest way for astronauts to commute to the ISS.

>may not be the safest or cheapest way

Why would that be a concern?

The point of manned space flight is to transfer non-defense spending to defense companies in the districts of politicians on the funding committee.

I think He and Boeing Execs should unknowingly fly on a 737-Max, before the improvements, with a faulty sensor.

At the very least, They should all be charged with 346 counts of Negligent Homocide. Boeing has become much the same as NASA. They had their moment in history. The 737 and it's variants need to go away forever. I will never fly on a 737-MAX.

once the 737 MAX has been sufficiently scrutinized and fixed, it might become the safest plane in the air...

(and then I'd fly on it no problem)

I was on a plane once against which a bomb threat was phoned in. After taxiing to the *far* corner of the field at LAX, we were all taken off the plane, all checked baggage matched to people from the plane, and the plane searched with explosives sniffing dogs.

When they said that the checks hadn't turned up anything and the plane would be proceeding to destination (Oakland, CA) and anybody who wanted back on was welcome to do so, a guy near me remarked that there was no way he'd ever get on that plane. I turned to him and said, "Why not? It's probably the most thoroughly checked and safest plane you'll ever fly on in your life." I re-boarded and it was--after that--a completely unremarkable flight.

Boeing I'm sure has different labels ready to apply to this person, here are just a few to choose from:

Lamb

Patsy

Fall guy

Former employee

Contractor

Rogue

Liability

Depreciated asset

need to start calling out the true source of all these issues: Boeing isn't "Boeing" because it is now controlled by McDonnell-Douglas management.

MD. You know, that MD. With products so "great" that they left the civilian aviation business because the public no longer had [any[ trust in their designs.

Anything and everything that has to do with this 737 fiasco goes back to management . Since Boeing is now controlled my MD, we really need to remind the world of this fact...and hopefully get a few heads rolling.

Forkner forked, aka an autoforking.