Boeing’s safety culture and manufacturing quality are both at the center of a full-blown crisis following the January crisis Blowing off aerial panelsfaced intense scrutiny Wednesday in two Senate hearings.
Boeing is facing a safety crisis after a door plug panel was blown off on an Alaska Airlines flight that took off from Portland, Oregon, on January 5th. The aircraft maker underwent a management shakeup and U.S. regulators restricted production, cutting shipments by half in March.
Testimony before the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations raised questions about manufacturing concerns about Boeing’s two wide-body jets, as well as gaps in records surrounding the panel.
Ed Pearson, a former Boeing engineer, said he submitted records sent to the FBI by a whistleblower that provided information about the plugs.
Boeing said it believes the required documentation detailing the removal of the door plug was not produced.
Boeing referred questions to the National Transportation Safety Board, which did not immediately receive comment.
The FBI declined to comment.
Sam Salepour, the whistleblower who raised questions about Boeing’s two wide-body jets, was a Boeing quality engineer who claimed he was told to “shut up” when he reported safety concerns. He said he was removed from the 787 program for questioning and transferred to the 777.
Mr. Salepour said that some areas of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner were prematurely damaged over time due to Boeing’s failure to properly shim or use thinner materials to fill small gaps in the product. It was argued that this could cause fatigue failure. Salepour said he reached out to Lisa Farr, a Boeing official, but was not provided with specific safety data.
Fahr said the 787, which entered service in 2004, had a clearance specification of 5/1000ths of an inch within a 5-inch area, or “the thickness of a human hair.”
Salepour told the hearing that the thickness of a human hair could be the difference between life and death “when you’re operating at 35,000 feet.”
Mr. Salepour’s attorney previously said documents Mr. Salepour submitted to the FAA would be available at the hearing.
Blumenthal held up a 2021 memo from Salepour and read aloud: “Kicking me out of the program for raising safety concerns does not help anyone.”
Reuters could not immediately locate any documents or links published online.
Boeing on Monday disputed Salepour’s claims for its 787 and 777 planes that fly internationally, saying it has found no fatigue cracks in the roughly 700 Dreamliners currently in service after undergoing heavy maintenance.
In a statement Wednesday, Boeing noted that the world’s 787s safely transport more than 850 million passengers, and the 777s safely transport more than 3.9 billion travelers. He defended aircraft safety.
The FAA said in a statement that all aircraft flying were in compliance with the regulator’s airworthiness directives.
Earlier, members of the Senate Commerce Committee said Boeing was improving its safety culture following a February report commissioned after two 737 MAX crashes killed a total of 346 people. He said more efforts were needed to do so.
Senate Commerce Committee Chairwoman Maria Cantwell said she expects Boeing to submit a full-scale plan in response to deadlines from regulators, the Federal Aviation Administration. In late February, the FAA said Boeing must develop a comprehensive plan to address “systemic quality control issues” within 90 days.
