Boeing , thetroubled aircraft manufacturerthat makes many of America ’s planes , was the subject of an unsettling Congressional hearing Wednesday wherein multiple ask over loudspeaker system accused the troupe of fostering a “ safety culture ” that is anything but safe . Among other things , speakers accused the company of cutting corners in the name of profit , ignoring and/or retaliate against employees who voiced base hit concerns , and even reprehensively track up grounds of poor manufacturing criterion and practices .
One talker , a embodied whistleblower who work as a quality locomotive engineer at Boeing , seemed to imply that something could “ happen ” to him as the result of speaking out against the companionship : “ It really scares me , think me , but I am at peace , ” said Sam Salehpour , during his testimonial . “ If something happens to me , I am at repose , ” he reiterated , note that by coming forward he hop to be “ spare a lot of life . ”
At Wednesday’sSenate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations auditory sense , Salehpour ’s testimony seemed to pull out the most attention , as he exact that he had been threaten by his boss and retaliated against for repeatedly voice rubber concerns about the 787 Dreamliner jet . Salehpour said in an interview with the New York Times that deficiency in the Dreamliner ’s production physical process couldcause the plane to “ split apart ” in midairafter a certain number of flying . During his preparedtestimony , Salehpour said he was treated poorly after repeatedly convey up such issues with his superscript :
Photo: DREW ANGERER/AFP (Getty Images)
“ Boeing officials attempted to restrain and retaliate against me by sideline me from my line of work duties and exclude me from key meeting . I have even been subjected to threats of wildness from my supervisory program after I attempted to discourse the trouble … my supervisor said to me , “ I would have killed anyone who said what you said if it was from some other group , I would tear them apart . ”
Later in the hearing , Salehpour say that he believe “ that the safety problems I have observed at Boeing , if not address , could result in a ruinous bankruptcy of a commercial-grade plane that would lead to the exit of hundreds of liveliness . ”
Another utterer at Wednesday ’s auditory modality , Edward F. Pierson , a former senior manager at one of Boeing ’s 737 manufactory , accuse the caller of engaging in a “ vicious cover - up ” of record link up to Alaska Airlines trajectory 1282 , the Boeing planewhose hull partially blew outin January . That flight , which spurred a bustle of negative press for Boeing , has also breed multiple Union investigating , including an FBI investigation . Pierson said that he delivered documentation to the FBI about that flight that Boeing execs had antecedently claimed did not exist :
Last Wednesday , the NTSB Chair reiterated to Congress that Boeing has said there are no disk documenting the work associate with the remotion of the Alaska Airlines door . In my opinion this is a felonious top - up . Records do subsist document in item the hectic work done on the Alaska Airlines airplane and Boeing ’s incorporated leadership know it too , because they fought to withhold these same damning records after the two MAX crashes . I know this Alaska airplane documentation exists because I in person passed it to the FBI .
Pierson also knock regulatory agencies like the NTSB , the Department of Transportation , and the Federal Aviation Administration , characterise them as “ lazy , complacent , and reactive . ”
Yet another speaker , former Boeing and FAA employee Joe Jacobsen , said that he blame flaws in the intention of the company ’s MAX models for the end of 100 of people . Despite this , he said that top executives at Boeing have little stake in doing anything about it :
The MAX crew alerting system does n’t come across current design standards , and by my count the honest-to-goodness standard has contributed to eight black crashes of Boeing aircraft and 885 deaths since 1996 . Despite this dismal safety record , in July 2022 , Boeing Chief Safety Officer Mike Delaney state “ I personally have no belief that there ’s any economic value in changing the 737 . ” CEO Dave Calhoun lobbied further and say “ This is a danger I ’m willing to take . If I lose the fight , I misplace the fighting . ”
All of the testimonial would seem to point to a ship’s company with big , big problem , and a Union regulatory environment that give up too much restraint to the company that regulators should be overseeing . Gizmodo reached out to Boeing for comment and will update this story if it responds .
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