Boeing faces scrutiny in Senate hearings over aircraft safety and quality

Boeing‘s
safety
and
quality
were
under
fire
again
in
two
Senate
hearings
Wednesday
as
the
manufacturer
faces
mounting
scrutiny
after
a
midair

door
blowout
and
near
catastrophe
on
one
of
its
planes
in
January.

A
Boeing
engineer-turned-whistleblower
testified
before
a
Senate
panel,
reiterating
his
allegations
that
the
plane
maker
cut
corners
to
move
wide-body
jets
through
the
production
line,
despite
flaws.
Sam
Salehpour
alleged
that
the
company
failed
to
adequately
shim
tiny
gaps
at
meeting
points
on
the
787
Dreamliner’s
fuselage,
and
that
that
could “ultimately
cause
a
premature
fatigue
failure
without
any
warning,”
according
to
his
testimony.
A
shim
is
a
thin
piece
of
material
used
to
fill
tiny
gaps.

“I
believe
that
Boeing
can
do
better
and
that
the
public’s
trust
in
Boeing
can
be
restored,”
he
said
in
prepared
remarks to
a
subcommittee
of
the Senate
Homeland
Security
Committee
ahead
of
the
hearing “Examining
Boeing’s
Broken
Safety
Culture:
Firsthand
Accounts.”

Boeing
has
denied
the
allegations,
calling
them
inaccurate,
and
has
defended
the
aircraft
and
its
testing.
On
Monday,
it
gave
reporters
a
roughly
two-hour
briefing
about
what
it
described
as
exhaustive
fatigue
testing
on
the
787
and
777
aircraft,
saying
it
did
not
find
safety
risks.

Scott
Kirby,
CEO
of


United
Airlines,
a
major
Dreamliner
operator,

brushed
off
concerns
about
the
plane
on
Wednesday.

“I
am
totally
confident
that
the
787
is
a
safe
airplane,”
he
told
CNBC’s
“Squawk
Box.”

Still,
the
Jan.
5
blowout
of
a
door
panel
on
a
Boeing
737
Max
9
plane
when
an


Alaska
Airlines
flight
was
at
16,000
feet
has
again
thrust
Boeing’s
safety
culture
into
the
spotlight
and
caused
a
crisis
at
the
manufacturer.
New
plane
deliveries
from
Boeing
have
slowed
as
the
Federal
Aviation
Administration
ramps
up
its
scrutiny
of
the
company’s
production
lines.

Boeing’s
CEO,

Dave
Calhoun,
last
month
said
he
would

step
down
by
year’s
end,
while
the
company
replaced
its
head
of
its
commercial
airplane
unit
and
its
board
chair.

A
separate
hearing,
by
the
Senate
Commerce
Committee
on
Wednesday,
addressed
Boeing’s
safety
culture
after
a

report
issued
earlier
this
year
from
an
expert
panel
ordered
by
Congress
found
a “disconnect”
between
Boeing’s
senior
management
and
other
members
of
the
organization
on
safety
culture.