Former Boeing test pilot found not guilty of deceiving FAA

By DAVID KOENIG
AP Airlines Writer

FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — A jury in Texas has found a former Boeing test pilot not guilty of deceiving federal regulators about a key flight-control system on the Boeing 737 Max jetliner. The jury acquitted Mark Forkner on Wednesday on four counts of wire fraud. Justice Department prosecutors accused Forkner of misleading the Federal Aviation Administration about the amount of training that pilots would need to fly the Max. They said that helped Boeing save tens of millions of dollars in penalties it would have owed to airlines for extra pilot training. But defense lawyers say Forkner was a scapegoat. They say Boeing and FAA officials tried to avoid blame after two Max jets crashed in Indonesia and Ethiopia, killing 346 people.