Boeing’s Broken Safety Culture

Boeing allegedly hid faulty plane parts from federal regulators and then lost track of them, some of which may have been installed in new planes, according to a whistleblower complaint, the latest claims of manufacturing issues for the aerospace firm this year. 

 

Sam Mohawk, a quality assurance inspector for Boeing in Renton, Washington, alleges the company have lost track of defective parts for new 737 planes after they “intentionally hid” them from Federal Aviation Administration inspectors, according to a Senate subcommittee investigation reported by multiple outlets. Faulty parts were improperly stored outdoors before Boeing requested they be stored at another unspecified location before an inspection by the FAA in June 2023, Mohawk reportedly alleges. 

 

Mohawk claims some of the defective parts – marked with a red tag or red paint – were installed in new planes, while others were lost completely, according to Senator Richard Blumenthal (left) who released the committee’s report. (Blumenthal’s office did not immediately respond to an inquiry from Forbes). 

 

Mohawk’s supervisors allegedly instructed him to delete records that indicated the parts were faulty before regulators inspected them, Blumenthal added. Boeing are reviewing the claims after receiving the complaint on June 17, the company said in a statement to Forbes.

 

This, after another Boeing whistleblower had come forward with claims that safety and quality issues were ignored and concerns were dismissed by management. Roy Irvin, who worked at Boeing’s plant in South Carolina from 2011 to 2017 as a quality investigator, alleged that he was reprimanded as “insubordinate” for flagging safety and quality issues on 787 Dreamliner planes that he inspected, as per a news report in The Guardian, published June 05.

 

Already, FAA Administration Mike Whitaker disclosed two weeks ago that the agency have “multiple active investigations” into Boeing, adding the FAA were “processing a number of reports” from whistleblowers.

 

And Boeing's CEO, Dave Calhoun (right) had even acknowledged that some employees who raised concerns about safety and quality inside the company faced retaliation. 

 

The executive did not have the number of managers fired for retaliating against whistleblowers “on the tip of my tongue”, he admitted, “but I know it happens”. 

 

This was revealed at the "Boeing’s Broken Safety Culture” hearing on Tuesday chaired by Blumenthal. In fact, the US senator from Connecticut declared that the company were facing a “moment of reckoning” – and called for prosecutions. 

 

Just so you know, Boeing are already scrutinising a quality issue with undelivered 787 Dreamliner aircraft, after inspections found hundreds of fasteners had been incorrectly installed. The issue won’t impact flight safety or deliveries, Boeing said. And last month, the FAA said they were investigating claims from Boeing that some employees falsified inspections for some 787 Dreamliners. Again, Boeing insisted in a memo the skipped inspections didn’t create a safety issue. 

 

I don't care what Boeing say but they are clearly dicing with death!