CHICAGO — Boeing faces a class action lawsuit from pilots over problems with its MAX aircraft, grounded earlier this year after two international plane crashes.
The plaintiff, a Canadian identified only as Pilot X, filed the complaint June 21 in Cook County Circuit Court on behalf of more than 400 pilots from an unnamed airline qualified to fly Boeing 737 MAX series planes. The complaint alleged Chicago-based Boeing, along with “the Federal Aviation Administration engaged in an unprecedented coverup of the known design flaws of the MAX, which predictably resulted in the crashes of two MAX aircraft and subsequent grounding of all MAX aircraft worldwide.”
As a result, the complaint continued, the pilots continue to suffer lost wages and other economic and non-economic damages, including “severe emotional and mental stress when they were effectively forced to fly the MAX — and required to place their own life and the lives of their crew and passengers in danger — despite the growing awareness of the dangerous nature of the previously concealed software (the maneuvering characteristics augmentation system ‘MCAS’) on board the MAX and other problems.”
The complaint said Boeing developed the MAX in response to learning “some of its more important customers were planning to place orders for the new Airbus A32neo.” To avoid the time and expense of developing a new plane, the complaint alleged, Boeing “instead made the fateful decision to modify an existing 737 model, the 737NG, to what would become the MAX,” a plan the Boeing board of directors approved in August 2011.
According to the complaint, because the MAX uses larger, more fuel-efficient engines, Boeing had to mount them in a different wing position and modify airplane nose gear, which “gave the MAX a propensity to abnormally pitch up under certain flight conditions, creating a risk that the airplane would suffer an aerodynamic stall and crash.”
The pilot alleged Boeing knew this design contravened FAA regulations, should have known of the MCAS’ limitations as early as mid-2018 and didn’t tell pilots about the MCAS or require them to undergo MCAS training “because Boeing wanted to be able to tell its customers that MAX pilots could fly revenue-generating routes as quickly as possible so that they would purchase more MAX planes.”
The complaint further alleged Boeing delayed a fix of a defective MAX cockpit display system, and said MAX crashes Oct. 28, 2018, in Indonesia, and March 10, 2019, in Ethiopia, proved the plane “was unsafe, and had to either be grounded until the design flaws could be fixed, or the airplane design significantly revisited.” Many airlines, including the one referenced in the complaint, voluntarily ground the MAX after the second crash.
Boeing also rolled out additional pilot training requirements after the second crash, but the complaint said the manufacturer failed to acknowledge its previous training didn’t include adequate information about the new systems and known flaws with the aircraft.
Formal complaints include counts of strict products liability, negligence and willful and wanton conduct, breach of warranty, fraudulent misrepresentation and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
In addition to class certification and a jury trial, the complaint seeks compensatory and punitive damages, as well as attorney fees and court costs.
Representing the pilot and seeking to serve as class counsel are attorneys Patrick M. Jones and Sarah M. Beaujour of the Chicago firm of PJM PLLC, and Joseph C. Wheeler, of the International Aerospace Law & Policy Group, based in Queensland, Australia.