Safety problems at Boeing are currently the focus of a hearing in the US Senate. An engineer accuses the aircraft manufacturer of production errors.
Washington – The quality controls at the US company Boeing are currently the subject of a hearing in the US Senate. A whistleblower makes serious allegations: Boeing engineer Sam Salehpour warns that the 787 and 777 Dreamliners could fail prematurely due to production errors. The aircraft manufacturer itself does not see any safety problems.
These are the allegations of the Boeing whistleblower
In January, passengers on an Alaska Airlines flight narrowly escaped disaster: Shortly after takeoff, a part of the fuselage broke off the 737 Max aircraft, turning the focus on safety at aircraft manufacturer Boeing. All other aircraft of the type initially had to remain on the ground, but were allowed to fly again after inspections by the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). There were also breakdowns with other Boeing models. The whistleblower Salepour is now accusing the manufacturer of tolerating errors in the assembly of fuselage parts of the Model 787 Dreamliner in order to speed up production and avoid bottlenecks.
Assembly processes were shortened, which would have resulted in excessive gaps between the various aircraft parts. “The entire global fleet needs attention, in my opinion. And the attention is that you have to check the gaps and make sure that there is no potential for premature failure,” said the engineer in an interview with the US broadcaster NBC. According to the employee's allegations, the US company put him under pressure, made threats and excluded him from meetings. The
New York Times
first
reported on it.
Boeing cites extensive testing as proof of the safety of the Dreamliner models
An investigation by the US aviation authority is currently investigating the Boeing engineer's allegations. The aircraft manufacturer itself emphasizes that the Dreamliner models 777 and 787 are safe and refers to long-term tests between 2010 and 2015. These showed “no material fatigue” on the Dreamliner. Accordingly, 165,000 flights were simulated during the tests, with the expected service life for the 787 being 44,000 flights. The company therefore continues to have “full confidence” in the aircraft model.
The company also addressed the gaps between the fuselage parts. Boeing was extremely careful when developing the 787, said manager Lisa Fahl, as the German Press Agency reported. The specification for the distance was initially set at 0.127 millimeters. With more data, it was found that larger distances were also permissible. Thorough investigations by the company and the FAA have shown that there are “no short-term concerns about the flight safety” of the 787. The allegations made by Salehpour about the 777 model were also “incorrect,” the aircraft manufacturer continued.
Boeing lagging behind: competitive pressure from Airbus and previous problems weighing on it
Salehpour is not the first whistleblower to report on production problems at Boeing: Former Boeing quality manager John Barnett had previously made serious safety allegations against the US company. The aircraft manufacturer's former employee was found dead in March. Boeing boss Dave Calhoun and board chairman Larry Kellner announced their retirement in the same month. The US group Boeing has recently increasingly fallen behind its largest competitor, the market leader Airbus. Previous problems also play a role: After two fatal crashes, the medium-haul model 737 Max had to be grounded worldwide for more than 20 months from March 2019.
With material from dpa