Will Boeing get away on the MAX crashes?

Boeing, which had previously agreed to plead guilty to fraud in negotiations with the Department of Justice, appears to be taking advantage of the new administration.  The industry rumor mill suggests that the company is attempting to change its plea to not guilty, and therefore not become a “corporate felon” and subject to potential civil liabilities and government contract restrictions.

The evidence that came out during the investigation of the crashes, including damning internal e-mails from the company, indicate that company engineers clearly intended to mislead the FAA regarding a single point of failure on the 737 MAX during certification.  Rather than play by the rules, which they knew pretty well, several individuals in the company purposefully lied to the FAA regarding the severity and impact of the MCAS system, which was the major contributing factor to the two fatal crashes.  Three hundred forty-six people died as a result.