Boeing faces a new investigation after the planemaker told US regulators it might have failed to properly carry out some quality inspections on its 787 Dreamliner planes.
The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said it was “investigating whether Boeing completed the inspections and whether company employees may have falsified aircraft records”.
The FAA said Boeing “voluntarily informed us in April that it may not have completed required inspections to confirm adequate bonding and grounding where the wings join the fuselage on certain 787 Dreamliner airplanes”.
The memo said the company concluded that “several people had been violating company policies by not performing a required test, but recording the work as having been completed”.
“We promptly informed our regulator about what we learned and are taking swift and serious corrective action with multiple teammates,” the memo added.
Last month, a whistleblower came forward with different quality allegations about several Boeing models and urged Boeing to ground every 787 Dreamliner jet worldwide, warning they were at risk of premature failure.
The Boeing engineer Sam Salehpour claimed that the company took shortcuts to reduce production bottlenecks while making the 787.
Salehpour, who has worked at Boeing for more than a decade, said he faced retaliation, including threats and exclusion from meetings, after raising concerns over problem including a gap between parts of the fuselage of the 787.
Following its admission to US regulators that it may not have conducted certain quality inspections on its 787 Dreamliners correctly, Boeing is now the subject of a new probe.
The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) declared that it was “looking into the possibility that Boeing employees may have fabricated aircraft records and whether the company completed the inspections.”.
The regulator stated that Boeing would create a “action plan” for the aircraft that are currently in service and that staff members would reevaluate the Dreamliners that have not yet been delivered to airline customers while the investigation was ongoing.
Boeing “voluntarily informed us in April that it may not have completed required inspections to confirm adequate bonding and grounding where the wings join the fuselage on certain 787 Dreamliner airplanes,” according to the FAA.
An employee reported the issue, and according to an internal memo obtained by the Guardian, Boeing executive Scott Stocker, who is in charge of the 787 program, wrote that it was an instance of “misconduct” rather than “an immediate safety of flight issue.”.
The company’s conclusion, according to the memo, was that “someone had been recording the work as having been completed, but not performing a required test.”.
“We are taking swift and serious corrective action with multiple teammates and have promptly informed our regulator about what we learned,” the memo continued.
According to Stocker, the organization would “celebrate” the worker who raised their voice.
Last month, a whistleblower surfaced with various quality claims regarding multiple Boeing models. The whistleblower urged Boeing to immediately ground all 787 Dreamliner aircraft worldwide, citing the possibility of premature failure.
Sam Salehpour, an engineer for Boeing, asserted that in order to lower production bottlenecks during the 787’s development, the company took short cuts. Concerns concerning the 777, another wide-body jet, were also brought up by him. Investigators from the FAA are looking into these claims.
After voicing concerns about a problem involving a gap between parts of the 787’s fuselage, Salehpour, a more than ten-year Boeing employee, claimed he faced retaliation, including threats and exclusion from meetings.
