Boeing facing new whistleblower claims
The United States’ Federal Aviation Administration said on Tuesday it is investigating claims by a Boeing engineer that the company knew of safety flaws in its 787 Dreamliner jet, but covered them up to speed production.
The planemaker has been grappling with a full-blown safety crisis that has undermined its reputation following a Jan 5 midair panel blowout on a 737 MAX plane. It has undergone a management shake-up, and US regulators have put curbs on its production. Deliveries fell by half in March, Reuter reported.
The FAA confirmed the investigation of allegations outlined in articles on Tuesday by The New
York Times and The Wall Street Journal describing charges by the whistleblower, who has been at Boeing for more than 10 years.
Sam Salehpour, who worked on the Dreamliner, said there were “shortcuts” in Boeing’s assembly processes leading to excessively large gaps between different plane parts that could “ultimately cause a premature fatigue failure without any warning, thus creating unsafe conditions for the aircraft with potentially catastrophic accidents”, according to an FAA complaint released by Salehpour’s attorneys.
Reuters reported that Salehpour’s lawyers wrote to the FAA’s head, Michael Whitaker, in January stating that Salehpour had made observations working on the 787 manufacturing line in 2021.
Boeing released a statement defending the aircraft, saying it is “fully confident” in the Dreamliner. The company said the issues raised by the engineer “have been subject to rigorous engineering examination under FAA oversight”.
Boeing said it incorporated “join verification” into production processes after slowing output and halting deliveries for nearly two years in response to employees who identified “conformance” issues on the 787.
The company also denied charges it retaliated against the worker.
Another whistleblower, John Barnett, a former Boeing employee who had reportedly raised concerns about the company’s production issues, was found dead on March 9 of an apparent suicide, according to authorities in South Carolina, Reuters reported.
US Senator Richard Blumenthal’s office said his investigation subcommittee would hold a hearing on Boeing issues with Salehpour on Wednesday.
In the latest development on Tuesday, an Air Canada Boeing 737 MAX 8 landed safely in Boise, Idaho, after experiencing an in-flight emergency when pilots received a warning light in the flight deck, airline and airport officials said.
The issue was determined to be a faulty cargo hold indicator, Air Canada said in an email without elaborating. No injuries were reported, Boise Airport officials said in a post on Facebook.