Boeing whistleblower details thousands of gaps in fuselages since 2013

Congress heard details of ongoing safety failures at Boeing on Wednesday, April 17, as employees described the conditions that led to several deadly incidents involving Boeing planes. Whistleblowers detailed Boeing’s safety culture to the Senate Subcommittee on Investigations during an ongoing inquiry. 

“A culture of shortcuts, pressure and hostility,” one employee wrote to describe Boeing. “[The company is] a good ole boy network that played by their own rules.” 

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The public heard from one of the whistleblowers directly. Boeing quality engineer Sam Salehpour testified in front of the committee.

“I have analyzed Boeing’s own data to conclude that the company’s taking manufacturing shortcuts on the 787 program that may significantly reduce the airplane safety and the lifecycle,” Salehpour said.

Salehpour described those manufacturing shortcuts, including a failure to properly fix tiny gaps in the Boeing 787 model’s fuselage assembly. Salehpour said since 2013, Boeing had failed to properly close thousands of gaps at major joints. 

“Effectively they are putting out defective airplanes,” Salehpour said. 

On top of the safety deficiencies, whistleblowers presented evidence that reportedly showed Boeing mistreated those who spoke out.

“These whistleblowers have come forward at great personal risk,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., said. “In fact, a number of them and others have suffered harassment, isolation, transfers, and even threats of physical violence.”

Blumenthal showed a photo of a bolt that someone drove into the tire of Salehpour’s car. 

“I was sidelined,” Salehpour said. “I was told to shut up. I received physical threats. My boss said, ‘I would have killed someone who said what you said in a meeting.’ And then this is not the safety culture when you get threatened by bringing issues of safety concerns.”

Boeing is not the only problem. Testimony revealed the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is also failing to hold Boeing accountable. 

“The attitude needs to change,” Ed Pierson, a former Boeing manager, said. “The attitude right now is Boeing dictates to the FAA, tells the FAA what they will do, what they will accept, and that needs to change.”

“We need more whistleblowers,” Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., said. “Not only in Boeing, but we need them in the airline and their maintenance departments. We need whistleblowers from the FAA. This is a very complex business. They’re complex products. It’s a complex problem.”

One witness testified that it can take months for the FAA to investigate a whistleblower complaint from a Boeing employee. 

“I’m hopeful that Mr. Whitaker, the new FAA administrator, will really take on the challenge of changing the culture at the FAA so that FAA is back to doing their job as a regulator,” Joe Jacobson, a former FAA engineer, said. “If they just rubber stamp everything that, you know, the manufacturers do, then it’s really, they’re not doing anything useful.” 

Boeing did not send a representative to the hearing, despite the committee’s request to hear from CEO Dave Calhoun. However, Blumenthal said the company has been cooperative and hopes Calhoun will testify in the future.

“A 787 can safely operate for at least 30 years before needing expanded airframe maintenance routines,” Boeing told CBS News in a statement. “Extensive and rigorous testing of the fuselage and heavy maintenance checks of nearly 700 in-service airplanes to date have found zero evidence of airframe fatigue.”