Boeing: “Defective planes”; “every passenger is at risk”, engineers are damaging their companies

Questioned on Wednesday by the US Senate in their capacity as whistleblowers, several Boeing engineers deplored the major safety flaws in the group’s aircraft. The risks would have become common.

Has the giant Boeing, which has had a number of hiccups in recent months, really become lax when it comes to safety? This is what emerges from the senatorial investigation in the United States, the culmination of which was the hearing of engineers from the aircraft manufacturer this Wednesday, April 17, 2024. One of them, Sam Salehpour, directly accuses Boeing of producing “ defective planes “. Bound by secrecy, he preferred to take the risk of “ save lives “, instead of ” to shut up “.

Despite pressure, a loyal Boeing engineer testifies against his company

Rarely in its history has Boeing been so shaken by its own forces, transformed into whistleblowers. It must be said that recent news affecting the Arlington firm does not speak in its favor. We all remember the cap holder lost in flight on this Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 9.

Boeing is under various investigations, so obviously, the testimony of the four employees or former employees of the company was expected, especially when they confess that each passenger can run a risk on certain models. The 787 Dreamliner, 737 MAX and 777 aircraft were particularly singled out.

Sidelined for having decided to speak out and citing having received physical threats, Sam Salehpour, who has worked within the company for 17 years as an engineer, did not show cheerfulness, but out of duty. “ I am not here because I want to be here (…), but because I do not want to see a crash of a 787 or a 777 “, he declared before the senators, accusing Boeing of “ produce defective planes “.

Boeing would produce too many planes too quickly, ignoring safety

At peace with himself and animated by the feeling of “ save many lives » potentially, Sam Salehpour let the horses loose at the microphone of the American Senate. According to him, Boeing would use shortcuts in the manufacturing of certain planes, such as those in the 787 program, which would reduce both safety and the life cycle of the aircraft. After alerting his management, the engineer was allegedly asked “ if he was part of the team, or not “.

Salehpour, for example, detailed that employees of a Boeing factory had poorly assembled the sections of the fuselage of the B-787 Dreamliner, incorrectly attached to each other with the risk of seeing them dissociate from each other in mid-flight, once the aircraft with several thousand flights under its belt.

Both Democratic and Republican senators were appalled by the engineer’s words. They were all the more so because members of a group of experts testified before the Senate committee that the manufacturer was engaged in a frantic race to produce devices, to the detriment of safety. And even if Boeing refutes it outright, saying it maintains all its confidence in the aircraft in question, the multiple testimonies overwhelm the American firm.

American aviation regulator blamed for inaction against Boeing

Two other engineers had on Monday, during a briefing, given the figure of 1,400 Boeing planes which would have major safety flaws. Ed Pierson, former Boeing manager on the 737 MAX program, said he had warned on numerous occasions about the lack of safety of the device, and that the crashes of the 737 MAX 8 in 2018 and 2019 which left 346 dead did not have not changed much in the mindset of the aircraft manufacturer.

There Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the American aviation regulatory agency, also took it for granted on Wednesday. The institution is targeted for having been too lax in the approval process for the 737 MAX. “ The FAA must be a regulator. She has to do her job. This is the missing piece at the moment “, underlined Joe Jacobsen, former engineer for the agency and Boeing.

The man who has been at the head of the FAA since last October upon appointment by Joe Biden, Mike Whitaker, is determined to restore order to Boeing’s affairs. In particular, he limited the production of 737 MAX, giving the company until May 28 to establish a plan to resolve the manufacturing and safety problems of the devices. Boeing could well have a second chance to show the world that it is a trusted aircraft manufacturer. It’s up to the giant to seize it.

Source : AP News