Boeing willingly notified the FAA that it might not have finished the necessary inspections to verify proper bonding and grounding where the wings join the fuselage on specific 787 Dreamliners aircraft, and the FAA responded by opening a new investigation into the corporation.
The Federal Aviation Administration verified in a statement that they are looking into whether employees of the corporation faked aircraft records and whether Boeing completed the inspections.
“As the investigation continues, the FAA will take any necessary action – as always – to ensure the safety of the flying public,” the FAA stated.
The FAA further stated that Boeing is required to develop a plan for managing the in-service fleet while simultaneously conducting a thorough inspection of every 787 aircraft remaining in operation.
The probe is the result of multiple incidents involving Boeing aircraft in the previous few months.
Since then, Boeing has been beset by a series of problems. Two months have passed since the deaths of two Boeing whistleblowers.
According to his family, Joshua Dean, a quality inspector for Spirit AeroSystems, a Boeing supplier, passed away last week after suffering an unexpected infection that left him very ill for several days.
The same legal team that represented John Barnett, another Boeing whistleblower, was also representing Dean. On March 9, Charleston, South Carolina, authorities discovered Barnett dead from what seemed to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Southwest Airlines said in late April that it was leaving a number of airports due to financial consequences stemming from Boeing’s delays, which further compounded the airline’s issues.
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The most recent airline to experience problems because of Boeing is Southwest. Due to delays in Boeing manufacturing and new aircraft certification, United Airlines stated at the beginning of March that it would be temporarily suspending its pilot hiring program. Due to ongoing delays, it has also requested that pilots take unpaid time off.
In recent months, the FAA has increased its control of Boeing and its supplier Spirit AeroSystems. One action taken in response to the door plug blowing out on one of Alaska Airlines’ Max 9 jets in mid-January was the suspension of Max production expansion.
Additionally, United Airlines reported its first-quarter earnings, showing that the temporary suspension of the Boeing 737 Max 9 earlier this year cost the airline almost $200 million.
Alaska Airlines and United are the two American airlines that fly the Boeing 737 Max 9.
During a late-April Senate hearing, a whistleblower with over 40 years of engineering experience testified that Boeing is selling aircraft that are defective.
Boeing engineer Sam Salehpour said before Congress that the corporation is skimping on quality control when constructing its 777 and 787 aircraft, and he said his managers have punished him for raising the red flag.
According to Salehpour, Boeing neglected to properly shim, or utilize a thin piece of material to fill in small gaps in a manufactured product. This neglect may have contributed to the early fatigue failure of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner over time in some places.
Salehpour added in his statement that he had voiced safety concerns to Boeing for three years, but that he had received no response. He talked about how his managers had retaliated against him, moving him from the 787 program to the 777 program and even threatening to hurt him physically.
