The Boeing Company of America has become the subject of investigation again, this time concerning its 787 Dreamliner. The Federal Aviation Administration announced the initiation of the investigation on May 6th, local time, focusing on whether Boeing has thoroughly completed the review of the 787 model and whether any of its employees were involved in the improper act of falsifying inspection records. Following the announcement, Boeing’s share price fell dramatically, with a near 3% drop during trading hours.
For this investigation, Boeing must verify that the wing-body joints on the 787 aircraft are fully connected and investigate whether company employees are suspected of falsifying aircraft records. In response to media inquiries, Boeing cited an email sent by Scott Stocker, head of the 787 project, on April 29th to employees at the 787 assembly site in South Carolina. In the email, Scott Stocker mentioned that an employee reported possible misconduct during the 787 testing. Upon receiving this report, the team immediately reviewed the matter and found that some employees recorded tests as completed without actually conducting them, in violation of company policy. He stated that Boeing promptly reported this situation to the Federal Aviation Administration and is taking urgent corrective action based on the information available. He also emphasized that despite the improper conduct, the engineering team assessed that this does not immediately impact flight safety.
Boeing’s safety culture has been widely criticized recently. In April, quality engineer Sam Sarpolus raised safety concerns about the 777 and 787 models and testified about them at a U.S. congressional hearing. He indicated an internal Boeing culture that penalized employees for raising safety issues. He claimed that due to his frequent questioning of aircraft safety, he faced suppression from management and even discovered a nail deliberately inserted in his car tire. Sarpolus revealed to a committee examining Boeing’s safety culture: “I’ve been raising these issues repeatedly over the years, only to be ignored and even told not to make trouble, essentially to shut up.” He added, “There’s a culture where when you try to address quality issues, you face intimidation, and that needs to change.”
Aviation and aerospace engineer Javier de Luis from MIT also raised criticism at the hearing. He said that Boeing has a company-wide issue where employees often choose to stay silent for fear of retaliation when raising concerns. De Luis had previously mentioned at a hearing that although Boeing claims safety as their top priority, in reality, they are more concerned with aircraft production numbers.
Boeing’s management strongly encourages employees to boldly raise safety-related issues and report, however, according to employee experience, those who do speak up often receive scant feedback. If employees persist in speaking out, they might face unfavorable factors in salary growth, bonus distribution, and position adjustments, and sometimes the consequences can be more severe than expected.
On the other hand, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) of the United States is stepping up its oversight on the assembly line of Boeing’s main profit generator—the 737 Max series aircraft. This is in response to an incident that occurred this January, when a virtually brand new flight experienced severe circumstances shortly after takeoff, with a fuselage panel explosively detaching. To ensure safety, the FAA has not only limited the production of 737 series aircraft, but also required Boeing to develop and implement a comprehensive plan to fully address existing quality issues.
Additionally, the National Transportation Safety Board of the United States pointed out a serious defect in a preliminary investigation report: it was discovered that a door panel was missing four bolts that secure it to the fuselage. At the same time, an audit by the FAA also revealed that Boeing had failed to meet established manufacturing and quality control standards in multiple cases, seriously threatening the reliability and safety of its products.
Boeing Company787 model aircraftreviewfalsification of inspection recordsstock price dropcongressional hearingssafety issuesFederal Aviation Administration737 Max series aircraftNational Transportation Safety Board
[ad_2]
