Boeing 737 Max Whistleblower Is Now Raising Concerns About a Different Boeing Aircraft
Boeing whistleblowers have been speaking out against the aerospace manufacturing company for the past several years, and ever since the dramatic Alaska Airlines incident at the start of the year, their fervor against Boeing has been renewed. Even after the sudden and deeply shocking death of whistleblower John Barnett, the most impassioned of Boeing's ex-employees have not stopped in their campaign to warn the public of Boeing's many dangerous alleged failings behind the scenes.
By now, we're all familiar with the Boeing 737 MAX 9 door plug controversy, a scandal so deeply troubling and widespread that many people refuse to fly on MAX 9s entirely. But avoiding the MAX 9 might not be enough, another Boeing whistleblower warned on April 9. He fears that the FAA may be overlooking serious production concerns with another popular Boeing aircraft.
Though the Boeing whistleblower was not named in the @cbsmornings broadcast, NPR later identified him as Sam Salehpour. Salehpour, who worked on the production line for the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, claims to have observed shortcuts during production, which he fears could compromise the structural integrity of Dreamliners as they age.
After he and his legal team first wrote a letter outlining these concerns to the FAA, shortly after the Alaska Airlines incident, Salehpour has continued to push for the FAA to take these concerns seriously and broaden their investigation into Boeing's operations. Now, certain senators are on board with his campaign, exerting further pressure on the FAA and scheduling a congressional hearing next week for Salehpour to share his testimony.
In response to Salehpour, Boeing strongly pushed back against the allegations (shocker), claiming that they "are inaccurate and do not represent the comprehensive work Boeing has done to ensure the quality and long-term safety of the aircraft."
Interesting. Unsurprisingly, Boeing's critics are nevertheless willing to hear Salehpour out, especially because...
John Barnett Also Warned About the Dreamliner
At the time of his untimely death last month, whistleblower John Barnett was actively delivering testimony against Boeing in an ongoing legal battle against the company. In the 2010s, Barnett had worked on the production of the 787 Dreamliner at a factory near Charleston, South Carolina, where he observed numerous serious production issues. After being stonewalled by higher-ups within the company, Barnett eventually took his concerns public.
In a 2019 interview with the BBC, Barnett shared some of his alleged observations on the 787 Dreamliner production line. He claimed that during testing, emergency oxygen masks failed to deploy 25% of the time, and also alleged that assembly workers used substandard parts from scrap bins to save time, among other troubling observations.
Coincidentally, a few days after Barnett's death, a 787 Dreamliner flown by Latam Airlines dramatically "dropped" in the sky for several seconds mid-flight, injuring at least 50 people on board. In response, Boeing reissued a 2017 safety bulletin warning airlines operating 787 Dreamliners to check for loose seat switch covers and how to power off the seat motor, as it's believed that the Latam Airlines' pilot's seat motor was accidentally triggered, pushing him into the plane's controls.
In short, the production quality of the 787 Dreamliner has been under scrutiny for years, and despite Boeing's assertions to the contrary, it's reasonable for others to be suspicious. Personally, I would be very interested to see what comes of Salehpour's congressional hearing next week.
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