Federal Aviation Administration

May 23 (UPI) — Boeing has avoided prosecution over two crashes of 737 Max planes that killed 346 people, but must pay $1.1 billion in a settlement reached with the U.S. Justice Department.

The aerospace company won’t face a trial as scheduled next month, ABC News reported.

Last week, DOJ officials met with crash victims’ family members, many of whom want the company to go to trial, about the agreement, according to CNBC.

The company, as part of the agreement, must pay $444.5 million for a new fund for crash victims. The eight-page agreement filed Friday was obtained by Flying magazine.

Paul Cassell, a lawyer representing some of the families, said in a statement he hopes U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor rejects the deal.

“This kind of non-prosecution deal is unprecedented and obviously wrong for the deadliest corporate crime in U.S. history,” Cassell said. “My families will object and hope to convince the court to reject it.”

DOJ noted relatives of more than 110 crash victims said they support the non-prosecution agreement or “support the Department’s efforts to resolve the case pre-trial more generally.”

Democratic Senators Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut sent a letter Friday to Attorney General Pam Bond urging her agency not to cut a deal and “to hold Boeing and any responsible executives accountable for their role in the 2018 Lion Air and the 2019 Ethiopian Airlines crashes, which killed a total of 346 passengers.”

The DOJ said it intends to file a motion to dismiss the case once the “agreement in principle” is finalized, by no later than the end of next week.

“It is the Government’s judgment that the Agreement is a fair and just resolution that serves the public interest,” the DOJ said in the filing in the North District of Texas in Fort Worth. “The Agreement guarantees further accountability and substantial benefits from Boeing immediately, while avoiding the uncertainty and litigation risk presented by proceeding to trial.”

In the agreement, Boeing “will admit to conspiracy to obstruct and impede the lawful operation of the Federal Aviation Administration Aircraft Evaluation Group.

Also, the aerospace company, besides the fund for victims, must pay a $487.2 million criminal fine, though $243.6 million it already paid in an earlier agreement; $444.5 million for a new fund for crash victims; and $445 million more on compliance, safety and quality programs.

On Oct. 29, 2018, the first crash in Jakarta, Indonesia, killed all 189 passengers and crew. Black box data from the Lion Air jet showed the pilots struggled to fight the plane’s malfunctioning safety system from takeoff to the moment it nose-dived into the water.

In the second crash four months later on March 10, 2019, 157 people died when a Ethiopian Airlines aircraft crashed minutes after takeoff in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

The Maxes were grounded for nearly two years after the second crash.

In 2021 during the first Trump administration, Boeing agreed to a $2.51 billion fine to avoid prosecution.

It was set to expire two days after a door panel blew out of a nearly new 737 Max 9 operated by Alaska Airlines on Jan. 5, 2024. The aircraft left Boeing’s factory without key bolts installed.

In 2024, U.S. prosecutors said Boeing violated the settlement because the company failed to set up and enforce a compliance and ethics program to detect violations of U.S. fraud laws.

Then Boeing agreed to plead guilty to criminal fraud last December. O’Connor determined the government’s diversity, equity and inclusion policies was a factor in the selection of an independent compliance monitor for Boeing. The company had agreed to plead guilty to conspiracy to defraud the United States and pay a fine of at least $243 million besides that same amount paid earlier.

In 2022, a Boeing former chief technical pilot was acquitted on fraud charges tied to the Max’s development.

May 22 (UPI) — A small jet plane crashed near a military housing neighborhood outside San Diego but the number of onboard fatalities is not yet known.

The incident was reported around 3:45 a.m. local time in the 3100 block of Salmon Street near the Tierrasanta neighborhood in the Murphy Canyon area.

According to the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration, the aircraft was a Cessna 550, which often is used as a corporate jet.

One local resident was hospitalized and two others were treated for minor injuries, the San Diego Police Department reported.

It added that the plane crashed near California’s Montgomery-Gibbs Executive Airport after it took off Wednesday night from New Jersey’s Teterboro Airport, according to flight data on FlightAware.

It reportedly landed early Thursday morning in Wichita, where it stayed in Kansas for about an hour before it departed for California.

The Cessna struck homes and caused about 15, along with several cars, to catch fire, San Diego Fire-Rescue Department Assistant Chief Dan Eddy told reporters at the crash site.

“The number of people on board is unknown at this time,” the agency initially said, adding the FAA and National Transportation Safety Board will investigate the cause of the deadly crash.

“The NSTB will lead the investigation and provide any updates,” FAA officials said. “This information is preliminary and subject to change,” they warned.

Eddy said the were no on-ground fatalities but the plane could have held up to 10 people, including its pilot.

According to SDFD officials, the crash scene is now a HAZMAT situation because of aviation fuel flowing down the streets, forcing multiple neighborhoods to be evacuated.

San Diego Police Chief Scott Wahl said there was “jet fuel going down the street and everything on fire all at once.” He added that it was “pretty horrific to see.”

Meanwhile, at least a dozen local pets were rescued or decontaminated by the San Diego Humane Society after the crash in the Murphy Canyon area.

“On behalf of our city, I extend my condolences to the families and loved ones of those aboard the plane,” San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria said in a statement, expressing his “deepest” gratitude to scores of agencies for their “swift, coordinated responses” that “quickly evacuated residents, extinguished fires and secured the area to ensure this tragedy was not compounded.”

“San Diego will support the Navy as they assist the residents affected by this tragedy,” the mayor said.