Complaints against the aircraft manufacturer pile up as the Senate and FAA investigate the new incidents.

An engineer who’ve worked for more than a decade at Boeing has send evidence to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) about the US aircraft builder’s damning practices of constructing and fastening together 787 Dreamliner fuselages.

Sam Salehpour has told the media that the issue lies in the company’s desire to cut corners by using manufacturers for different parts of the planes, which simply don’t fit properly when fastened together on the assembly line. 

After many hours of flights fuselages are increasingly likely to break apart and the problem gets worse as planes age, Salehpour noted, adding that he had alerted Boeing officials about this risk, to no vain.

The company prioritizes profits over security, explained the engineer (pictured below, credit: The Telegraph).

Boeing has been lately under pressure following numerous problems with its aircraft, some of which have been reported with functioning and manufacturing errors. One of the most concerning was an Alaska Airlines flight in January when a part of a Boeing 737 Max jet fuselage blew off and fell onto a private yard, thus adding weight to Salehpour’s claims.

Last year, another Boeing whistleblower, John Barnett, was found dead outside his hotel in Charlston, South Carolina, one day before he was due to testify on safety issues before a jury against his former employer.

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The new whistleblower effort has also attracted the attention of legislators in Washington DC, a sign that the pressure on Boeing is mounting – the investigative subcommittee of the Senate's Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee has invited Sam Salehpour for a hearing on 17 April.

Boeing has denied any safety shortcuts issues, but the multiple ongoing probes into incidents involving its planes tell a different story.

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In 2020, Supply Chain Digital reported of a “terrible supply chain management” at Boeing, which it described as “almost laughable.”

The Boeing 787 Dreamliner is the first of its kind use carbon-composites in its structure. Considerably lighter than its aluminum counterparts, the plane operates on 20% less fuel, which means millions upon millions in savings each year for airliners.

Therefore, Boeing started outsourcing both materials and production of parts, including some of its core businesses, relying increasingly on suppliers, subcontractors, and cheap foreign manufacturing, the magazine for supply chain, procurement, and logistics professionals warned in 2020.

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