“Federal regulators are investigating a whistleblower's claim that the assembly of Boeing Co.'s 787 Dreamliner is defective,” NPR reported this week.
Sam Salepour, a longtime Boeing Co. engineer, went public Tuesday, claiming he noticed a problem with the way parts of the plane's fuselage were fastened together. Salepour warned that production “shortcuts” could significantly shorten the lifespan of the aircraft and ultimately cause it to break apart mid-flight. “That could lead to a catastrophic failure,” Salepour said Tuesday at a news conference to discuss his claims.
An FAA spokesperson confirmed that the agency is investigating the allegations, which were first reported by the New York Times, but declined to comment further. Boeing immediately pushed back. “These claims about the structural integrity of the 787 are inaccurate and Boeing is committed to ensuring the quality and long-term safety of the aircraft,” Boeing spokeswoman Jessica Kowal said in a statement. “It does not represent a comprehensive effort.” “We have absolute confidence in the 787 Dreamliner.”
According to the article, Salepour and his lawyers argue that Boeing has not previously adequately addressed manufacturing defects discovered in 2021, including unacceptable gaps between fuselage panels. . “Instead, he says, the company took a 'shortcut' by applying more force to join each part of the fuselage together.”
“Boeing hid the problem by forcing the parts together as if the gaps didn't exist,” Salepour told reporters at a news conference Tuesday. Mr. Salepour repeatedly raised these concerns with management, but instead of addressing them, management transferred him to work on another plane, a 777, where he witnessed similar problems. claimed to have done so. “I literally saw people jumping on parts of the plane and trying to align them,” he said. “That's not how you build airplanes.”
In a follow-up, NPR reported that former Boeing mechanic Davin Fisher “spoke out and says he paid a high price for it.”
He said Boeing leaders were always pushing to speed up production. “Hey, we need to go faster, faster, faster,” Fisher said. “They cared more about their shareholders and investors than they did about planes and employees and things like that.” When Mr. Fisher finally fought back, he was demoted in retaliation and then fired from the company in 2019. says. Fisher said many of his friends who still work at Boeing are afraid to speak out. “The people there are 100 percent scared,” he said. “Because they don't want to get fired.”
NPR also cited the example of John Barnett, a longtime quality manager who, in a 2019 interview with Ralph Nader, said that Boeing managers cut pay and created a hostile environment. He said he had retaliated against him.