Boeing whistleblower to testify on aircraft safety.

Sam Salehpour, a quality engineer at Boeing, is set to testify before the Senate on Wednesday regarding what he claims are “alarming and dangerous manufacturing deficiencies” at the company. Salehpour alleges that these deficiencies could lead to “potentially catastrophic” incidents involving Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner and 777 aircraft, two of its largest models. Boeing, however, has refuted Salehpour’s claims, calling them “inaccurate.”

Salehpour has over four decades of experience as an engineer at Boeing. He sent reports to the Federal Aviation Administration in 2021 and 2022, accusing Boeing of “taking shortcuts” to reduce production bottlenecks in the 787 Dreamliner line. Salehpour claims these shortcuts resulted in “faulty engineering and faulty evaluation of the data,” leading to potentially defective parts and installations in the 787 fleets.

According to Salehpour’s attorneys, he told the New York Times that the pieces of the 787 Dreamliner’s fuselage are produced in separate factories by different manufacturers and do not fit together properly during assembly at Boeing facilities.

Boeing’s assembly practices have faced scrutiny in recent months. A piece of fuselage built by Nebraska manufacturer Spirit AeroSystems fell off a 737 Max 9 during an Alaska Airlines flight in January. Salehpour was transferred to the 777 production line after raising safety concerns about the 787. He found similar problems with fuselage misalignment on the 777.

“I literally saw people jumping on the pieces of the airplane to get them to align,” Salehpour said during a call with reporters last week, warning that such practices could lead to fatigue, which are cracks that can develop in an aircraft’s fuselage over time.

Boeing suspended most production of the 787 for about two years until August 2022 due to problems with shims, small pieces used to close gaps between assembled parts of the aircraft.

Salehpour’s attorney, Debra Katz, told the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations that Boeing has ignored Salehpour’s concerns and failed to take remedial action. Katz said Boeing retaliated against Salehpour by sidelining him, excluding him from key meetings, and subjecting him to threats from his supervisor. Boeing has denied these allegations.

Boeing has stated that the Dreamliner underwent rigorous engineering examination under FAA oversight and that it expects the aircraft currently in service to remain operational for several decades. The company’s chief engineer, Steve Chisholm, stated that Boeing found no evidence of airframe fatigue cracks in the roughly 700 787 Dreamliners currently in service.

Salehpour is not the first Boeing employee to raise safety concerns. In 2019, John Barnett, a 32-year veteran of the company, came forward with similar allegations about the 787 Dreamliner’s production flaws. Barnett’s reports were also ignored, and he was moved to a different production line. Barnett was found dead in a parking lot just days before he was set to testify as part of a lawsuit against Boeing in South Carolina. Authorities believe his death was a suicide.

Boeing has stated that it will continue to monitor these issues under established regulatory protocols and encourages all employees to speak up when issues arise, stating that retaliation is strictly prohibited.