Going to begin with the alarming testimony on Capitol Hill
about the nations largest airplane manufacturer.
A long time Boeing employee is accusing the company of
LAX safety standards when it comes to building that
787 Dreamliner. Another hearing yesterday addressed the door blowout on
a
737 Max jet. We all remember that
the other recent incidents involving Boeing aircraft.
Chris Van Cleave has more on all of this.
Chris, good morning. It's making a lot of travelers very
nervous.
And by by a lot of travelers,
I mean me
well, GAIL, this certainly has the attention of Congress.
Good morning. And there is a growing sense on Capitol
Hill that change is needed at Boeing and to get
the full sense of what may need to change is
likely going to require several more hearings.
What they heard yesterday seemed to reinforce concerns that there's
a safety culture at Boeing that has to change.
Effectively they are putting out defective airplanes,
Boeing quality engineer turned whistleblower Sam Salapore told senators Wednesday
he has significant safety concerns about the
787 Dreamliner. Since 2013, there have been serious issues on
the
787 program, not properly closing thousands of gaps in its
assembly of the fuselage
on major joints. Are these planes safe right now?
From what I've seen, the airplanes are not being built
per spec and per requirement.
Salapur worries that could lead to structural failures down the
line.
He claims when he raised his concerns,
he was threatened. I was ignored.
I was told not to create delays.
I was told frankly to shut up,
the longtime Boeing employee testified at one of two overlapping
Senate hearings focused on safety and quality control issues at
Boeing.
At the other hearing, Javier de Luis,
an aeronautics professor who lost his sister in a
737 Max crash five years ago,
that there exists a disconnect,
for lack of a better word,
between the words that are being
said by Boeing management and what is being seen and
experienced by employees across the company.
They hear safety is our number one priority,
but what they see is that that's only true as
long as your production milestones are met.
Boeing calls Solapour's claims inaccurate and points to stress testing,
as seen in this video,
saying in a statement, 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.
We are fully confident in the safety and durability of
the
787 Dreamliner, the company insists.
Retaliation against employees is strictly prohibited,
but Solipore claims there's still a culture of fear.
All the problems that we've had,
we put Band-Aid over Band-Aid to resolve the problems,
and Band-Aid over Band-Aid doesn't cover it.
He also says he saw things on the
777 line that concerned him,
including claims that he saw a worker jumping on components
to get them to a line.
Boeing says those claims are also inaccurate.
The company did get a vote of confidence from United
Airlines.
Company has 150 Dreamliners on order.
CEO Scott Kirby says he is confident the
787 is a safe airplane.
GAIL. OK, the picture they painted yesterday was very,
very unsettling. Thank you very much,
Chris.