The morning of March 10, 2019 began in a beautiful but typical way for Naoise Ryan, who was in Rome at that time.
Ryan describes her husband Mick Ryan as a chief engineer at the World Food Programme. He was on a trip in Africa.
“My two children had crawled into my bed beside me, and we sent him a text message, you know? Just saying hello and taking a picture of them and saying, “Good morning, Daddy,” Naoise Ryan said. “But the message was not delivered.
Michael (Mick), 39, was already on Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 in Addis ababa and was headed to Nairobi.
A friend, Naoise Ryan, called Naoise and informed her that a plane had crashed shortly after she tried to send the message. Mick was thought to be aboard. After several hours of waiting, authorities finally confirmed that Nick was among the 157 victims of the Boeing 737 Max plane crash shortly after takeoff. This was the second 737 Max Max to crash almost in exactly the same way in less than five month. Lion Air flight 609, which was the first 737 Max to crash in almost identical fashion, took off from Jakarta’s international airport. All 189 passengers were killed. The DOJ has been asked by families of victims of plane crashes to cancel Boeing’s settlement agreement.
Investigators investigating plane crashes found that the MCAS system, an automated flight control system for Max jets, was a major factor in both crashes.
Upon further investigation, it was found that Boeing and key employees of the company deceived FAA about the flawed system that was used to certificate the plane.
Boeing was charged last year with criminal conspiracy to defraud FAA. However, the U.S. Department of Justice reached a deferred prosecution agreement to settle the case without a criminal conviction.
Ryan and other family members of victims in the crashes are now calling for an end to this agreement. The Justice Department will not renegotiate the agreement.
Boeing admitted that it had committed criminal misconduct in misleading regulators as part of the settlement. However, they did not plead guilty. Boeing also agreed to $2.5 billion dollars in fines, including a $244 million penalty and $500 million to fund a victims’ compensation fund. The vast majority of the $1.7 billion went to airlines to help them recover revenue lost during the almost two-year-long grounded of 737 Max aircraft.
The agreement doesn’t protect Boeing employees from criminal prosecution for misconduct. Boeing also blames two of its former test pilots in the agreement. Last fall, Mark Forkner (ex-Boeing pilot) was indicted.
If the company complies with these and other terms, the criminal charges against Boeing will be dropped after three years. Boeing’s top executives will also be protected from any further criminal prosecution.
Naoise Ryan, and other relatives of those who lost their loved ones in the crashes were completely unaware of the January 2021 deal.
Ryan tells NPR that it felt like a new wound was being inflicted upon us. It was a sweetheart agreement. It was not justice. The decision-makers were basically exempted from accountability by giving up their immunity.
Ryan and others claim that Boeing fired Forkner, a former employee, and that it was a violation of federal law.
Ryan says that Ryan couldn’t believe that two people stole the company’s money and declared, “We’re going do this and we’re hiding this.” “This was a top-down decision and it was made for corporate profit and corporate gain.”
She and her family filed a motion at the Texas federal district court to cancel a portion of the deferred prosecution agreement. They claim that the DOJ didn’t inform or consult them before they reached the agreement with Boeing. They claim that the Justice Department informed them that there was no criminal investigation into the certification and development of the 737 Max.
Paul Cassell, the attorney for the families, stated that “It’s clear that the Justice Department violated Crime Victims Rights Act” and that they violated Internal Justice Department policy which requires conferring to crime victims. “That was not done here… and that was in violation of federal law.
Attorney General Merrick Garland met virtually last month with many family members of crash victims. According to those present, he expressed sympathy. While the families asked him to reopen his deferred prosecution agreement last month, Garland refused to take a position on the matter.
Federal prosecutors apologised for not meeting the families of crash victims before they signed the agreement with Boeing in a court filing. The Justice Department claims that the Justice Department was not legally obligated to meet with the families of crash victims because they are not considered “crime victims” under federal law. However, the FAA is.
Federal prosecutors stated that there was no doubt that Boeing conspired with the federal government to defraud it when it deceived FAA. Federal prosecutors also acknowledged that the flawed MCAS flight controller system may have been a factor in the plane crashes. The DOJ document says that the government’s investigation did not yield evidence that would permit it to prove beyond a reasonable doubt the causes of the crashes of Lion Air Flight 610, and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302.
The Justice Department basically says that, without being able prove beyond reasonable doubt that the crashes resulted from a criminal act and that the families of the victims in the two crashes were not crime victims.
“So the government is saying that the only victims of this case were FAA bureaucrats,” states attorney Cassell, a University of Utah law professor who represents the families pro bono.
He claims the government’s position is insulting, and calls it “outrageous” and “morally inconcionable.”
Cassell tells NPR that Boeing’s lying to the FAA was the direct cause of the two crashes and 346 deaths. “Clearly, this case was more than the actions of one or two people. This was corporate policy of putting profits above safety… so the case should involve the company being prosecuted criminally, and the senior leaders who facilitated the criminality.
The Justice Department did not respond to any further questions beyond the court filing.
Boeing spokeswoman declined to comment.
A federal judge dismissed two fraud charges against Mark Forkner (an ex-Boeing technical pilot) for allegedly lying to federal regulators regarding the MCAS flight control system.
