David Shepardson and Allison Lampert
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is investigating claims by a Boeing (NYSE:) whistleblower that the company dismissed safety and quality concerns in the production of its 787 and 777 planes, an agency spokesman said on Tuesday.
The planemaker has faced a full-blown safety crisis that has tarnished its reputation following a panel explosion on a 737 MAX plane on Jan. 5. It has undergone a change in management, US regulators have imposed restrictions on its production, and supplies fell by half in March.
Boeing engineer Sam Salehpour’s allegations stem from work on the company’s 787 and 777 wide-body planes. He said he faced retaliation, such as threats and exclusion from meetings, after identifying engineering problems that affected the structural integrity of the planes and claimed that Boeing used the cuts to eliminate bottlenecks during 787 assembly, his lawyers said.
Boeing has suspended deliveries of its wide-body 787 jet for more than a year, until August 2022, as the FAA investigated quality problems and manufacturing deficiencies.
In 2021, Boeing said about 787 aircraft had improperly sized gaskets, and some aircraft had areas that did not meet skin flatness requirements. A gasket is a thin piece of material used to fill tiny gaps in a manufactured product.
In a statement, Boeing said it has full confidence in the 787 Dreamliner, adding that the statements are “inaccurate and do not reflect the comprehensive work Boeing has done to ensure the quality and long-term safety of the aircraft.”
According to his lawyers, Salehpour oversaw shortcuts used by Boeing to eliminate bottlenecks in the 787 assembly process that placed “excessive stress on aircraft’s key joints and introduced drilling debris between key joints onto more than 1,000 aircraft.”
He told reporters later Tuesday that he had seen misalignment problems in the production of the wide-body 777 jet that were corrected by force.
“I’ve literally seen people jumping on parts of the plane to get them to line up,” he said.
Boeing shares fell nearly 2% to $178.12 on Tuesday after the FAA confirmed the investigation, first reported by the New York Times.
“Voluntary reporting without fear of reprisal is a critical component of aviation security,” the FAA said. “We urge everyone in the aviation industry to share information. We are thoroughly investigating all reports.”
An agency source said the FAA met with the informant.
The Society of Professional Engineers for Aerospace (SPEEA) said Salehpour is a member and works at the Boeing plant in Everett, Washington. The engineers’ union said it could not comment on Salehpour’s specific concerns.
SENATE HEARINGS
U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal’s office said his investigative subcommittee will hold a hearing on April 17 on Boeing’s issues with Salehpour, titled “An Examination of Boeing’s Broken Safety Culture: First-Hand Evidence.”
Blumenthal added that he wants Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun, who said last month he would retire by the end of the year, to testify at future hearings. According to the March 19 letter, the commission initially wanted Calhoun to testify at next week’s hearing.
“We want to give Boeing the opportunity to explain to the American people why, in light of recent apparent safety failures, the public should have confidence in Boeing’s design and build processes,” Blumenthal and Sen. Ron Johnson, the panel’s top Republican, wrote.
Boeing offered to provide documents, testimony and technical briefings to the Senate subcommittee, the company said in a statement emailed to Reuters on Tuesday.
Salehpour provided the FAA with documentation that will be presented at the hearing, his lawyers said. In a Jan. 19 letter to FAA Administrator Michael Whitaker, lawyers said Salehpour made these observations while working on the 787 program in 2021.
“Rather than heed his warnings, Boeing prioritized getting the aircraft to market as quickly as possible, despite the known and legitimate concerns he raised,” attorneys Debra Katz and Lisa Banks said in a statement Tuesday.
Whitaker has taken a hard line against Boeing since January 5. Alaska Air (NYSE:), banning the planemaker from expanding production of the 737 MAX and requiring it to develop a comprehensive plan to address “systemic quality control issues” within 90 days.
Separately, the U.S. Justice Department is investigating whether Boeing violated a 2021 agreement that shielded the U.S. planemaker from prosecution after two fatal MAX crashes in 2018 and 2019. That January 2021 agreement, known as a deferred prosecution agreement (DPA), gave the aircraft maker a way to avoid prosecution on charges of conspiracy to defraud the FAA.
Prosecutors are expected to rely heavily on the FAA’s investigations in determining whether Boeing violated the agreement, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters.
In August 2022, the FAA approved delivery of Boeing’s first 787 Dreamliner of 2021 after the manufacturer completed inspections and upgrades needed to meet certification standards. There are about 1,100 Dreamliners currently in service, according to Boeing.