Ahead of a Senate hearing on Wednesday, April 17, concerning Boeing’s safety, the company is denying allegations by a whistleblower about shortcuts in the production of its 787 Dreamliner and 777 aircraft, saying the planes meet all safety standards. Boeing has called the whistleblower’s accounts inaccurate and stands by the company’s safety measures.
The whistleblower, Sam Salehpour, is a former Boeing employee who claimed that assembly processes put “excessive” stress on airplane joints, potentially shortening the aircrafts’ lifespans. He added he saw workers trying to get misaligned parts to fit by “jumping on the pieces of the airplane to get them to align.”
In a two-hour presentation with reporters on Monday, April 15, Boeing officials explained stress and impact tests performed on their planes.
Steve Chisholm, Boeing’s chief engineer for mechanical and structural engineering, stated that the company conducted extreme tests on fuselage panels, simulating conditions beyond typical service levels, and observed no growing damage.
“These claims about the structural integrity of the 787 are inaccurate and do not represent the comprehensive work Boeing has done to ensure the quality and long-term safety of the aircraft,” the plane-maker said in a statement in response to the claimed. “The issues raised have been subject to rigorous engineering examination under FAA oversight. This analysis has validated that these issues do not present any safety concerns and the aircraft will maintain its service life over several decades.”
The whistleblower is scheduled to testify in Wednesday’s Senate hearing as the FAA investigates his claims.
