Months after the March 2019 crash in Ethiopia, Berthet’s ex-husband reached out to make sure she knew what federal regulators in the U.S. had found: Boeing had misled the Federal Aviation Administration about a software system on its new 737 Max plane. An error with that system likely led to the fatal crashes that killed her daughter.

She began to realize “that what was happening was not normal,” Berthet said. “I had to meet the families, had to improve my English, had to understand what happened with the plane.”

“During that first year … I was not myself. I was not aware of anything. I was like a stone,” she said. “Then I began to fight.”

Two years later, Berthet got another shock.

The U.S. Justice Department had signed a deal with Boeing that allowed the airplane manufacturer to avoid criminal charges for the Max crashes if it met a series of conditions over the next few years. The 58-page agreement outlined broad requirements for the company to improve its compliance with U.S. fraud law and commit to a culture of safety.

The Justice Department did not consult with the victims’ families before signing the deal with Boeing, according to attorneys representing the families.

“It felt like a second crash,” Berthet said. “I felt so hopeless. I felt everything was all wrong (and) we couldn’t do anything because it was the Justice Department.”

The impacts of that second hit would continue to reverberate for the next three years as Berthet and other families worked to challenge the legality of the agreement and encourage the Justice Department to prosecute Boeing.

Berthet began studying French and American law, aviation safety and the English language. She read French and English versions of the same law books so she could confidently speak up in meetings with federal prosecutors. When it came to aviation safety, English became the dominant language for her to learn more; there are aviation terms she doesn’t know how to translate back to French.

She read academic papers, spoke with former Boeing employees and attended trials related to other aviation safety incidents. Conversations with other victims’ families often continued until 2 a.m. in France.

...continued

©2024 The Seattle Times. Visit seattletimes.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.