A quality insurance inspector for Boeing in Renton, Washington, has come forward with more allegations against the plane manufacturer hours before Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun’s Senate testimony Tuesday.
Democratic Connecticut Sen. Richard Blumenthal’s office has identified Sam Mohawk as the whistleblower. Mohawk alleges that Boeing wrongly tracked and stored improper parts, and that those parts were used in planes, including the Alaska Airlines 737 Max 9, which suffered a door plug blowout midflight in January.
A new Boeing whistleblower complaint alleges when the company restarted production of the 737 Max after two deadly crashes, there was “a 300% increase” in reports about parts that did not meet proper manufacturing standards.
He claims his team was told to cut corners. pic.twitter.com/1hiTBNlFJ0
— CBS Mornings (@CBSMornings) June 18, 2024
“Mohawk has also alleged that he has been told by his supervisors to conceal evidence from the [Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)], and that he is being retaliated against as result,” a statement from the Senate Homeland Security’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations reads.
Blumenthal, the chair of Homeland Security’s investigations committee, and others are set to confront Calhoun over the Boeing allegations Tuesday. (RELATED: Disaster Narrowly Avoided In Yet Another Boeing Plane Incident)
Calhoun, who is in the process of vacating his CEO role, said Boeing was “accountable for what happened” on the Alaska Airlines flight, a remark he is expected to stick to when he addresses the subcommittee, The Hill reported.
“From the beginning, we took responsibility and cooperated transparently with the [National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB)] and the [Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)] in their respective investigations,” reads a copy of Calhoun’s prepared testimony, obtained by The Hill.
“In our factories and in our supply chain, we took immediate action to ensure the specific circumstances that led to this accident would not happen again. Importantly, we went beyond to look comprehensively at our quality and manufacturing systems,” the testimony goes on, according to The Hill.
The FAA noticed issues with Boeing’s safety culture in a report from February, which started before the Alaska Airlines incident, the outlet reported.
Other whistleblowers have recently come forward, alleging Boeing skimped on safety to drive profit and that the company came after employees who pointed the issues out. Some of the employees who spoke up testified before the subcommittee in April, the outlet reported.
In the April hearing, Sam Salehpour, a Boeing quality engineer, alleged the plane manufacturer came after him once he flagged that the fuselage from the 787 Dreamliner was not put together correctly. If not properly done, the fuselage could cause the plane to fall apart while flying.
“I want to make it clear that I have raised these issues over three years. I was ignored. I was told not to create delays. I was told, frankly, to shut up,” Salehpour said.
“[We are] fully confident in the safety and durability of the 787 Dreamliner” and “extensive and rigorous testing of the fuselage and heavy maintenance checks of nearly 700 in-service airplanes to date have found zero evidence of airframe fatigue,” Boeing said in April following the hearing.
Since the Alaska Airlines incident, Boeing has ordered their lobbyists to fix their relationship with lawmakers. Just after the door blowout, all 535 members of Congress had heard from Boeing, The Hill reported. Boeing also unveiled their new “Product Safety and Quality Plan” to the FAA in May, which outlined the company’s progress in addressing safety concerns.
Despite Boeing’s efforts, Blumenthal remains critical of the company’s culture, the outlet reported.
“This is a culture that continues to prioritize profits, push limits, and disregard its workers. A culture where those who speak up are silenced and sidelined while blame is pushed down to the factory floor,” the senator said.
