Summary
- Boeing defends the fuselage construction integrity of 787 and 777 jets against whistleblower claims.
- The company conducted thorough stress tests, arguing the manufacturing process remains sound.
- Boeing maintains confidence in the safety of the 787 program, refuting whistleblower allegations.
On Monday, April 15th, American aerospace manufacturing giant Boeing defended the integrity of the fuselage construction of two of its largest and best-selling aircraft, the Boeing 787 and the Boeing 777. Last week, these jets were criticized by a whistleblower, a former Boeing engineer, who claimed that the company had cut corners when it came to the safety of these two aircraft.
The whistleblower, ex-employee Sam Salehpour, said last week that the assembly process for the Boeing 787 Dreamliner put an unnecessarily high amount of stress on the aircraft’s joints. As a result, he claimed that this far-from-ideal manufacturing process would significantly reduce the planes’ lifespan.
Photo: Boeing
Boeing, however, resisted Salehpour’s allegations, referring to them as “inaccurate” and doubling down on the company’s safety protocols. The saga is likely far from over for the manufacturer, as yet another hearing is scheduled for this upcoming Wednesday, in which the whistleblower is set to appear at a senate hearing alongside another ex-Boeing engineer and an aviation safety expert.
Boeing’s response
Boeing’s response to the media came in the form of a roughly two-hour presentation with members of the press yesterday, according to reports from NBC News. During the lengthy briefing, two managing engineers meticulously analyzed the company’s stress tests for the 787 Dreamliner.
Photo: First Class Photography | Shutterstock
Specifically, the planemaker argued that the plane was tested for 165,000 flight cycles and performed tests for dozens of different conditions. To ensure the fuselage’s redundancy, engineers also indicated that the skin itself was stuck by a 300-pound pendulum to fully test its integrity.
Whistleblower Report Prompts Closer Look At Boeing 787 Dreamliner Program
Boeing denied the allegations made by the whistleblower, including those related to potential 787 issues.
One of the engineers on hand, Steve Chisholm, the company’s director of mechanical and structural engineering, indicated that the company’s intense stress tests were repeated far more than necessary. The plane’s structure was pushed to its breaking point, and engineers concluded that damage to the fuselage panels would not occur until far after a 787 would be expected to remain in commercial service.
Photo: Boeing
The engineers further described the process of joining and bringing together different sections of the fuselage with margins of less than 0.005 inches. According to NPR, this is done using holes that are drilled and cleaned, followed by fasteners that are attached to apply a binding force.
The bigger picture
Today’s response also comes on the heels of an incident earlier this year that saw a door plug blow off of an Alaska Airlines 737 MAX 9 flight, one which raised serious concerns about the company’s safety culture. Boeing, however, has been quick to push back on concerns regarding the company’s safety culture in the wake of the whistleblower’s comments, issuing the following statement to Simple Flying:
“This analysis has validated that these issues do not present any safety concerns and the aircraft will maintain its service life over several decades. We continue to monitor these issues under established regulatory protocols and encourage all employees to speak up when issues arise. Retaliation is strictly prohibited at Boeing.”
The company also expressed its confidence in the safety of the Boeing 787 program, which has never encountered a hull loss or fatal incident. Boeing later mentioned in its statement that it does not believe the whistleblower’s comments to be accurate and that such remarks neglect the comprehensive process undergone by the carrier to ensure the quality of the jets.
