Whistleblowers take center stage at hearing examining Boeing’s culture

Boeing will be the focus of dual Senate hearings Wednesday as Congress seeks answers about how the company’s management and internal culture may have contributed to a midair panel blowout aboard an Alaska Airlines jetliner in January.

The hearings reflect new urgency and, in some cases, deep frustration and anger among lawmakers on Capitol Hill. Congress and regulators are seeking to hold one of the country’s most storied companies accountable while at the same time assuring a jittery public that air travel remains one of the safest forms of transportation.

In a midmorning session before the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, lawmakers will examine whether a Federal Aviation Administration program that allows Boeing to sign off on its own work should be revamped to give regulators more oversight of the company’s operations. Congress changed some elements of the Organization Designation Authorization (ODA) program in the wake of fatal crashes of Boeing 737 Max jets in 2018 and 2019, but the January door panel blowout aboard another 737 Max jet and the subsequent revelations have prompted calls for a robust review of the program.

“We need to understand the full scope of everything that’s going wrong to help them to fix it,” said Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), chair of the committee’s aviation safety subcommittee.

Witnesses scheduled to testify include three members of an expert review panel that examined the ODA program and Boeing’s safety culture.

Duckworth said that while she understands the need to delegate some oversight to manufacturers, the FAA must strengthen the program.

“I understand the initiative behind it — FAA was undermanned and it still is,” she said Tuesday. “But we really just can’t turn everything over and allow manufacturers to self-regulate and expect [them] to be 100% upfront with shortcomings within the manufacturing process.”

In the second hearing, the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigation will feature testimony from several Boeing whistleblowers, including Sam Salehpour, a quality engineer who went public last week with allegations that the aerospace giant cut corners in the production of its 787 Dreamliner and 777 aircraft. Both are popular widebody jets.

Boeing has taken several actions aimed at blunting the criticism it has faced, increasing oversight of production at its factories and that of its key suppliers as well as holding “safety stand downs” in which work stopped so that employees can focus on conversations about safety. Last month, it announced a major shake-up in its executive ranks: Dave Calhoun, its chief executive, will step down at the end of the year. Stan Deal, who oversaw Boeing’s commercial airplane operation, announced his retirement.

But the moves have done little to assuage concerns as the company faces multiple probes into its operations. A preliminary report by National Transportation Safety Board investigators found that four bolts designed to hold the portion of the fuselage that blew out of the Alaska Airlines jet were missing after the part was removed during final assembly at Boeing’s Renton, Wash., factory. Duckworth noted that a just-completed review of internal changes Boeing made following fatal crashes in 2018 and 2019 found a continued “disconnect” between management and front-line workers when it came to safety.

In prepared testimony, one of the members of that panel, Javier de Luis — a lecturer in MIT’s aeronautics and astronautics department — sought to explain the “disconnect” between Boeing management and its technicians and engineers.

“They hear ‘safety is our number one priority,’ but they see that is only true as long as you meet your production milestones,” according to de Luis’s remarks. “They hear ‘speak up if you see anything unsafe,’ but they see that when they do, there’s little feedback, and if they insist, they may find themselves on the short end of the stick next time raises are distributed, or worse.”

Following its own six-week audit that found numerous issues with Boeing’s quality oversight, the FAA gave the company until late May to deliver a plan for addressing the shortcomings.

The FAA confirmed last week that it is investigating Salehpour’s claims that Boeing did not follow its own procedures for ensuring sections of the fuselage on the 787 Dreamliner jet are properly joined, raising the possibility that the parts could break apart in midflight after years in operation. He said he was retaliated against for speaking up, left out of meetings and, in one case, threatened with physical violence by a superior.

The company has pushed back against the allegations, noting that it stopped delivery of the jets for nearly two years after employees raised concerns about small gaps roughly the size of a human hair that existed between the structures in late 2020. On Monday, two top Boeing experts — Lisa M. Fahl, vice president for airplane programs engineering, and Steven A. Chisholm, vice president for mechanical and structural engineering — briefed reporters on the steps that the company has taken to ensure the fuselage sections are properly joined and the extensive testing the structures have undergone to make sure they would not fail prematurely. They noted that the FAA signed off on Boeing’s proposed fixes in August 2022, allowing the company to resume delivery of the planes.

While Fahl and Chisholm declined to address specific concerns raised by Salehpour, they expressed confidence in Boeing’s manufacturing, testing and safety oversight process. As for employees’ feedback, Fahl said, “We’re on a continuous improvement journey on ensuring that our teammates’ opinions and questions get answered.”

Salehpour, however, alleges that after he voiced concerns about 787 jets, he was retaliated against and transferred to work on the 777 program. He also found problems in that program, including instances where he said employees forced parts together by using excessive force or, in some cases, jumping on top of components. Chisholm denied that workers engaged in such behavior.

Salehpour’s lawyers say Boeing has not adequately addressed issues he has raised with either plane. One of them, Debra Katz, said Salehpour’s allegations reflect a corporate culture that has not learned from its mistakes after fatal crashes involving Boeing jetliners.

“Boeing has always said, ‘Just trust us’ when it comes to safety,” she said. “It’s clear that standard is no longer sufficient, and any data provided by Boeing should be validated by independent experts and the FAA before it is taken at face value.”

Two other whistleblowers who previously raised concerns about Boeing’s quality control and assurance programs are also slated to testify before the subcommittee Wednesday.

“Boeing is a storied American company,” Duckworth said. “And I want Boeing to regain what it was — that storied American company that built the greatest aircraft that helped us win World War II. But that’s not where it is today.”