Whistleblowers slam Boeing safety culture

WASHINGTON: Witnesses at a US Senate hearing on Boeing drew a disturbing picture on Wednesday of an aviation giant that blows off safety questions and sidelines critics as it chases faster production and bigger profits.

“The attitude from Boeing from the highest level is just to push the defective parts, regardless of what it is,” Boeing engineer Sam Salehpour told lawmakers on Capitol Hill.

Salehpour, who has worked at Boeing for 17 of his 40 years in aerospace, said he became a whistleblower after he was punished for raising safety questions about the top-selling 787 Dreamliner and 777.

The engineer testified that he was blackballed by company higher-ups and feared for his personal well-being after raising concerns about safety.

He maintains that the Dreamliner could show premature signs of fatigue, resulting in a catastrophic accident because of excessively large gaps in the plane’s assembly.

He likened it to a paper clip that is bent repeatedly.

“You do it once or twice, it doesn’t break, but it breaks at some time,” added Salehpour, who has said the entire 787 fleet should be grounded for investigation.

Boeing acknowledged imperfections, but said it was making progress.

“We know we have more work to do and we are taking action across our company,” the firm said after the hearing, pointing to an uptick in its “Speak Up” portal to field employee input.

Former pilot Shawn Pruchnicki, now at Ohio State University, said a reporting culture was critical to improved safety, along with a chain of accountability all the way up to the CEO.

Pruchnicki said despite promises he called “hollow”, there was no sign Boeing has reformed itself.

“So it leaves one to wonder, have we gone backwards?” he asked.