Federal authorities have said that they are looking into Boeing following a whistleblower’s repeated complaints about two widebody jet models and his allegations that the firm had retaliated against him.Boeing engineer and whistleblower Sam Salehpour claims that the company made corners when building the 777 and 787 Dreamliners, raising the possibility of disastrous consequences as the aircraft age. The whistleblower complaint was first reported by The New York Times.
The newer 737 Max aircraft that the Federal Aviation Administration has grounded twice is not the subject of his formal complaint to the agency, which was lodged in January and made public on Tuesday.
I am doing this not because I want Boeing to fail, but because I want it to succeed and prevent crashes from happening,” Salehpour told reporters on a conference call Tuesday. “The truth is Boeing can’t keep going the way it is. It needs to do a little bit better, I think.”
The FAA has interviewed Salehpour as part of its investigation, his attorney Lisa Banks said. The FAA said it investigates all whistleblower complaints.“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.”
A Senate subcommittee will also take up the concerns at a hearing next week.Boeing did not immediately comment on the claims about the 777, but disputed Salehpour’s concerns about the 787.“These claims about the structural integrity of the 787 are inaccurate and do not represent the comprehensive work Boeing has done to ensure the quality and long-term safety of the aircraft,” the company said in a statement.Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner planes, which entered service in 2011, could have 50-year lifespans – around 44,000 flights each, the company says.
But Salehpour’s complaint alleges crews assembling the plane failed to properly fill tiny gaps when joining separately manufactured parts of the fuselage. That puts more wear on the plane, shortening its lifespan and risking “catastrophic” failure, Salehpour’s attorneys alleged.The allegations aren’t entirely new: For nearly two years starting in 2021, the FAA and Boeing halted deliveries of the new Dreamliners while it looked into the gaps. Boeing said it made changes in its manufacturing process, and deliveries ultimately resumed.
“We incorporated the join inspection and verification activity into our production system so that airplanes coming off of the production line meet these specifications,” Boeing said.The 787 Dreamliners were not grounded, but the FAA twice investigated questions about quality control during the jet’s assembly process. The company maintained that the planes were and are safe to fly.Salehpour’s attorneys said the FAA was surprised to discover through his complaint that the gaps were still an issue. “I literally saw people jumping on the pieces of the airplane to get them to align,” Salehpour said. “By jumping up and down, you’re deforming parts so that the holes align temporarily … and that’s not how you build an airplane.”
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