Boeing Admits Guilt in Two Deadly Plane Crashes
2024-07-09
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1American company Boeing will admit to criminal charges of wrongdoing linked to two deadly passenger jet crashes.
2The aerospace manufacturer will also pay a fine of $243.6 million.
3The U.S. Department of Justice said late Sunday that the company had violated an agreement that had protected it from legal action for three years.
4The two crashes of Boeing 737 MAX airliners killed 346 people in a five-month period from 2018 to 2019.
5Government lawyers gave Boeing the choice of entering a guilty plea and paying the fine or facing a trial.
6If the trial had taken place, Boeing would have faced felony charges of criminal conspiracy to defraud the United States.
7The government, which approved the airplane and the pilot training required for it, charged Boeing with lying.
8A federal judge still must approve the deal before it can go into effect.
9In addition to the plea and fine, the government will name an independent monitor to supervise Boeing's safety and quality methods for three years.
10The company must also spend at least $455 million on compliance and safety programs.
11The deal only covers the wrongdoing by Boeing before the crashes.
12The Justice Department said it does not protect Boeing from recent dangerous incidents in which, for example, a panel of a plane came off during an Alaska Airlines flight in January.
13The deal only affects the company and not current or former Boeing officials.
14The company confirmed it had reached a deal with the government but had no other comment.
15The complete written agreement is expected to be presented to the federal court by July 19.
16Families of some of the people who died on the flights criticized the deal. Paul Cassell is a lawyer for some of the families.
17He said, "This sweetheart deal fails to recognize that because of Boeing's conspiracy, 346 people died."
18A group of the families is asking the government to seek a fine of nearly $25 billion.
19The company's guilty plea will be entered in a U.S. District Court in the southwestern state of Texas.
20Judge Reed O'Connor has called Boeing's behavior "egregious criminal conduct."
21The case involves two crashes. One took place in Indonesia and the other in Ethiopia.
22Investigators said the pilots in the Lion Air crash did not know about flight-control software that would affect control of the airplane.
23The pilots of the Ethiopian Airlines crash knew about the software but were still unable to control the plane.
24The software is called the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System.
25Boeing designed it to cause the airplane's nose to point down under a certain set of flight conditions.
26The software aimed to save money by reducing the amount of training time pilots needed to use the system.
27The software is used in 737 MAX airplanes and did not exist on earlier aircraft.
28The Justice Department charged Boeing in 2021 with lying to Federal Aviation Administration officials about the software.
29Under a deal at the time, the government did not bring charges if the company paid a $2.5 billion settlement, which included a fine of $243.6 million.
30Boeing was also required to meet the requirements of anti-fraud laws for three years.
31Boeing blamed two low-level employees for misleading government officials.
32The government charged a former company official.
33In 2022, a jury found a former Boeing chief technical pilot not guilty in connection with the company's wrongdoing.
34After the crashes, the government grounded or halted all flights of the 737 MAX airplanes involved for about 20 months.
35Boeing is based in Arlington, Virginia, although the 737 MAX aircraft are built in the state of Washington.
36I'm Mario Ritter, Jr.
1American company Boeing will admit to criminal charges of wrongdoing linked to two deadly passenger jet crashes. The aerospace manufacturer will also pay a fine of $243.6 million. 2The U.S. Department of Justice said late Sunday that the company had violated an agreement that had protected it from legal action for three years. 3The two crashes of Boeing 737 MAX airliners killed 346 people in a five-month period from 2018 to 2019. 4Government lawyers gave Boeing the choice of entering a guilty plea and paying the fine or facing a trial. If the trial had taken place, Boeing would have faced felony charges of criminal conspiracy to defraud the United States. 5The government, which approved the airplane and the pilot training required for it, charged Boeing with lying. A federal judge still must approve the deal before it can go into effect. 6In addition to the plea and fine, the government will name an independent monitor to supervise Boeing's safety and quality methods for three years. The company must also spend at least $455 million on compliance and safety programs. 7The deal only covers the wrongdoing by Boeing before the crashes. The Justice Department said it does not protect Boeing from recent dangerous incidents in which, for example, a panel of a plane came off during an Alaska Airlines flight in January. 8The deal only affects the company and not current or former Boeing officials. The company confirmed it had reached a deal with the government but had no other comment. 9The complete written agreement is expected to be presented to the federal court by July 19. 10Families of some of the people who died on the flights criticized the deal. Paul Cassell is a lawyer for some of the families. He said, "This sweetheart deal fails to recognize that because of Boeing's conspiracy, 346 people died." A group of the families is asking the government to seek a fine of nearly $25 billion. 11The company's guilty plea will be entered in a U.S. District Court in the southwestern state of Texas. Judge Reed O'Connor has called Boeing's behavior "egregious criminal conduct." 12Two crashes 13The case involves two crashes. One took place in Indonesia and the other in Ethiopia. Investigators said the pilots in the Lion Air crash did not know about flight-control software that would affect control of the airplane. The pilots of the Ethiopian Airlines crash knew about the software but were still unable to control the plane. 14The software is called the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System. Boeing designed it to cause the airplane's nose to point down under a certain set of flight conditions. The software aimed to save money by reducing the amount of training time pilots needed to use the system. The software is used in 737 MAX airplanes and did not exist on earlier aircraft. 15The Justice Department charged Boeing in 2021 with lying to Federal Aviation Administration officials about the software. Under a deal at the time, the government did not bring charges if the company paid a $2.5 billion settlement, which included a fine of $243.6 million. Boeing was also required to meet the requirements of anti-fraud laws for three years. 16Boeing blamed two low-level employees for misleading government officials. The government charged a former company official. In 2022, a jury found a former Boeing chief technical pilot not guilty in connection with the company's wrongdoing. 17After the crashes, the government grounded or halted all flights of the 737 MAX airplanes involved for about 20 months. 18Boeing is based in Arlington, Virginia, although the 737 MAX aircraft are built in the state of Washington. 19I'm Mario Ritter, Jr. 20David Koenig and Alanna Durkin Richer reported this story for the Associated Press. Mario Ritter, Jr. adapted this report for VOA Learning English with additional reporting from Reuters sources. 21____________________________________________ 22Words in This Story 23plea -n. a statement of innocence or guilt presented to a court of law 24felony -n. a serious crime 25conspiracy -n. a secret plan by two or more people to do something harmful or illegal 26monitor -n. a person who observes an activity, often to make sure rules or laws are not broken 27egregious -adj. easily seen or noticed; very bad 28conduct -n. behavior 29We want to hear from you. Our comment policy is here.