Originally Posted by
Hawker400
The (unknowingly) part makes me sympathize with him in part. While not disclosing that information at the time is negligence at best and criminal at worst, he was undoubtedly pressured into that position.
If his lawyer's statement is accurate, Forkner apparently thought, when he "basically lied" to the regulator, that the "rampant" MCAS he experienced was a sim problem. Later, when he told the colleague about the "lie," he seems to have concluded that the issue was with MCAS itself.
From the Times story:
A lawyer for Mr. Forkner played down the importance of the messages, saying Mr. Forkner was talking about issues with the simulator.
“If you read the whole chat, it is obvious that there was no ‘lie’ and the simulator program was not operating properly,” the lawyer, David Gerger, said in a statement. “Based on what he was told, Mark thought the plane was safe, and the simulator would be fixed.”