Boeing Accused of Lax Safety to Increase Aircraft Sales Profits

WASHINGTON — Aircraft manufacturer Boeing Co., was accused of skimping on safety to maximize profits during two Senate hearings Wednesday.

The Senate committees are investigating recent dangerous mid-flight equipment failures blamed on faulty design and assembly of airliners.

One of them was the Jan. 5, 2024, mid-air blowout of a door panel on a 737 MAX Alaska Airlines plane after takeoff in Portland, Oregon. 

Senators also asked about crashes of Boeing planes in 2018 and 2019 that killed a total of 346 people. The crashes were blamed on a navigational software problem.

A Boeing quality engineer said that after he pointed out safety concerns to the company’s top management, he faced job isolation and implied threats.

“I was ignored, I was told not to create delays, I was told, frankly, to shut up,” said Sam Salehpour, who still is employed by the company.

His main concern was that Boeing failed to adequately close tiny gaps between panels on the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, which he said can stress the material and cause premature failure as the aircraft ages.

Salehpour said the reprisal against him included being taken off projects, excluded from meetings and harassed by his boss.

“My boss said, ‘I would have killed someone who said what you said in a meeting,’” he told the Senate Homeland Security Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations.

He added, “If something happens to me, I am at peace because I feel like coming forward, I will be saving a lot of lives.”

Other engineers also accused Boeing of letting safety standards slip.

So far this year, Boeing has restructured its management, the Federal Aviation Administration has put limits on its production and its airplane deliveries were down by half last month.

The company denies accusations of poor safety and manufacturing.

The Senate is considering whether more government action is needed.

One proposal would eliminate the authority of Boeing and its suppliers to sign off on the safety of their own airplanes and components. Most government oversight consists of occasional safety inspections and audits after self-certification by Boeing.

Instead, lawmakers discussed putting the FAA in charge of certification of the work while the aircraft still are in the factories.

The FAA has set a deadline of May 28 for Boeing to complete a comprehensive plan to address what the agency called “systemic quality-control issues.”

Lawmakers hinted at the possibility of criminal charges after an ongoing Justice Department investigation.

“This is beyond negligence,” said Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis. “This is an overt act.”

He added, “This requires a full-blown investigation.”

At a separate Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation hearing, Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., said, “I personally think that Boeing’s recent manufacturing problems are merely a symptom of a much deeper problem, the destruction of a proper safety culture by, you know, share price obsessed executives.”

No Boeing executives testified during the Senate hearings. The company has denied safety lapses or retaliation against whistleblower employees.

The company said in a statement that inspections showed none of the fatigue cracks predicted by Salehpour on its 777 and 787 wide body jets. Its global 787 fleet has safely carried more than 850 million passengers, while the 777 has transported more than 3.9 billion travelers safely, the company said.

The FAA backed up many of Boeing’s assertions in a statement saying all of its aircraft comply with the regulator’s airworthiness directives.

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