Boeing whistleblower raises Dreamliner 787 fears as he makes claims of engineering shortcuts
The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is investigating a Boeing engineer’s claims that the company dismissed safety and quality concerns in the production of the manufacturer’s 787 and 777 jets, an agency spokesman said on Tuesday.
The plane maker has been grappling with a full-blown safety crisis that has undermined its reputation following a mid-air panel blowout on a 737 Max plane in January. It has undergone a management shakeup, regulators in the US have put curbs on its production, and deliveries fell by half in March.
The latest allegations, made by Sam Salehpour, stem from work on the company’s widebody 787 and 777 jets. Mr Salehpour said he faced retaliation, such as threats and exclusion from meetings after he identified engineering problems that affected the structural integrity of the jets, his attorneys said.
“I am doing this not because I want Boeing to fail, but because I want it to succeed and prevent crashes from happening,” Mr Salehpour said on Tuesday. “The truth is Boeing can’t keep going the way it is. It needs to do a little bit better, I think.”
The engineer, who works at Boeing’s plant in Everett, Washington, has also claimed the company employed shortcuts to reduce bottlenecks during 787 Dreamliner assembly.
“Rather than heeding his warnings, Boeing prioritised getting the planes to market as quickly as possible, despite the known, well-substantiated issues he raised,” attorneys Debra Katz and Lisa Banks said.
Boeing previously halted deliveries of the 787 widebody jet for more than a year until August 2022 as the FAA investigated quality problems and manufacturing flaws.
In 2021, Boeing said some 787 airplanes had shims that were not the proper size and some aircraft had areas that did not meet skin-flatness specifications. A shim is a thin piece of material used to fill tiny gaps in a manufactured product.
In a statement, Boeing said it was fully confident in the 787 Dreamliner, adding that the claims “are inaccurate and do not represent the comprehensive work Boeing has done to ensure the quality and long-term safety of the aircraft”.
Mr Salehpour alleged he observed shortcuts used by Boeing to reduce bottlenecks during the 787 assembly process that placed “excessive stress on major aeroplane joints and embedded drilling debris between key joints on more than 1,000 planes”.
He told reporters in a call later on Tuesday that he saw problems with misalignment in the production of the 777 widebody jet which were remedied by using force.
“I literally saw people jumping on the pieces of the plane to get them to align,” the engineer said.
Boeing shares closed down nearly 2 per cent at $178.12 (£140.42) on Tuesday after the FAA confirmed the investigation, which was first reported by The New York Times.
“Voluntary reporting without fear of reprisal is a critical component in aviation safety,” the FAA said. “We strongly encourage everyone in the aviation industry to share information. We thoroughly investigate all reports.”
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