More woes for Boeing: New whistleblower claims airline maker's 777 and 787 ... trends now
Another whistleblower has come forward to accuse airline making behemoth Boeing of taking shortcuts when building the 777 and 787 Dreamliner jets and of retaliating against him when he raised concerns with management.
Sam Salehpour's allegations come just a month after the mysterious suicide of Boeing whistleblower John Barnett, a long time employee who made similar claims, including those of retaliation in a still unresolved lawsuit.
Salehpour will now take part in a government hearing on Boeing's safety record. The company's outgoing CEO David Calhoun has also been summoned to appear before the panel on April 17. It has not been confirmed if he will in fact appear.
Salehpour is expected to detail safety concerns involving the manufacture and assembly of the 787 Dreamliner.
The subcommittee said in a letter that those problems could create 'potentially catastrophic safety risks.'
On Tuesday, Salehpour said during a conference call involving his lawyers that he 'literally saw people jumping on the pieces of the airplane to get them to align,' reports CNN. These observations were made in 2021.
'Rather than heeding his warnings, Boeing prioritized getting the planes to market as quickly as possible, despite the known, well-substantiated issues he raised,' attorneys Debra Katz and Lisa Banks said in a statement on Tuesday.
The logo for Boeing appears above a trading post on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange
Boeing's outgoing CEO David Calhoun is being called for testify before a government panel as part of its investigations into Boeing
An Alaska Airlines Boeing 737-9 Max flies over Boeing's manufacturing facility in Everett where Salehpour worked
In early January, an unused emergency exit door blew off a brand-new Boeing 737 Max shortly after take-off from Portland International, sparking a still-ongoing DOJ investigation
A United Airlines Boeing 777 loses tire while taking off from San Francisco, crushing cars on the ground
A United Airlines Boeing 737 Max suffers landing gear failure after arriving at Houston airport
The Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace (SPEEA) said Salehpour is a member who works at Boeing's plant in Everett, Washington. The engineering union said it could not comment on Salehpour's specific concerns.
A Boeing spokesperson said that the company is cooperating with the subcommittee's inquiry and has 'offered to provide documents, testimony and technical briefings.'
The Federal Aviation Administration has also been investigating Salehpour's allegations since February, according to the subcommittee. The FAA did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Salehpour, whose concerns were featured in a New York Times article Tuesday, is also expected to describe retaliation he faced after bringing his concerns forward.
According to that account, Salehpour worked on the 787 but grew alarmed over changes to the assembly of the fuselage, the main body of the aircraft.
That process entails fitting together and fastening giant sections of the fuselage, each one produced by a different company, according to Salehpour's account.
Salehpour told the Times he believed Boeing was taking shortcuts that led to excessive force in the assembly process, creating deformations in the composite material used in the aircraft's outer skin.
Original whistleblower John Barnett had alleged that second-rate parts were literally removed from scrap bins, before being fitted to planes that were being built to prevent delays
Wreckage of the Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737-MAX plane is seen on March 11, 2019
A Boeing 737 MAX-8 that plunged into the sea 13 minutes after taking off from Tangerang, Indonesia, on October
