A former chief test pilot for Boeing has been charged in the state of Texas with deceiving US regulators about the safety of the company's 737 MAX plane.

Court documents say Mark Forkner provided the Federal Aviation Administration with false, inaccurate, and incomplete information about a new part of the flight control system for the aircraft.

The allegedly misleading information has been blamed for two fatal 737 MAX crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia in 2018 and 2019.

Shortly after the Ethiopia crash, all 737 MAX planes were grounded. If convicted, Mr Forkner could be jailed for up to 20 years.