Boeing Says FAA Was Told ‘Multiple Times’ of Changes to 737
- Planemaker, regulator in rift over how much FAA knew on MCAS
- Boeing directors meeting with executives as crisis escalates
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Boeing Co. said it told U.S. regulators “multiple times” that it had expanded the role of flight-control software later linked to two fatal crashes, and that Federal Aviation Administration personnel observed the system operating in flight tests before the 737 Max was certified for service.
The statement, posted online Sunday, provided a broader explanation to last week’s bombshell revelation that a former senior Boeing pilot had described the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System, also known as MCAS, as “egregious” to a colleague. In an instant-message exchange after a rocky simulator run in August 2016, Mark Forkner, now a Southwest Airlines pilot, said he had unknowingly “lied” to the FAA about its behavior.