The pending agreement, laid out in court filings made public Wednesday, would conclude a yearslong investigation into two fatal crashes of Boeing 737 Max 8 crashes in 2018 and 2019.
Nearly 350 people died in the crashes, which federal investigators determined were caused by MCAS software errors and accused Boeing of misleading the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) about the safety of the software.
Under the proposed deal, Boeing would admit it gave the regulator “incomplete and inaccurate information” about the aircraft software, undermining safety.
Boeing would also agree to a three-year organizational probation, to invest $455 million in compliance programs and a meeting between the board and the families of crash victims.
An independent compliance officer would also oversee the deal.
But first, U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor must approve the plea.
An attorney who represents some of the victims’ families blasted the deal as inadequate and urged O’Connor to reject the proposal.
“The proposed plea has all the problems in it that the families feared it would have. We will file a strong objection to the preferential and ‘sweetheart’ treatment Boeing is receiving within seven days with Judge O’Connor,” Paul Cassell, an attorney for 15 families, said in a statement.
Boeing stood by the settlement agreement in a Thursday statement to The Hill.
“We will continue to work transparently with our regulators as we take significant actions across Boeing to further strengthen our safety, quality and compliance programs,” the company said.
The Hill’s Nick Robertson has more here.
