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SEATTLE (AP) — The Federal Aviation Administration said Monday that it has opened an investigation into Boeing after the embattled company reported that workers at a South Carolina plant falsified inspection records for certain 787 planes. Boeing said its engineers concluded that misconduct did not pose an “immediate aviation safety concern.”
In an April 29 email to Boeing employees in South Carolina, Scott Stocker, who leads the 787 program, said a worker noticed an “irregularity” during a required test of the wing-fuselage connection and reported it to his supervisor have reported.
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“After receiving the report, we quickly reviewed the matter and determined that several individuals had violated company policy by failing to perform a required test but instead logging the work as completed,” Stocker wrote.
Boeing has notified the FAA and is taking “quick and serious corrective action with multiple teammates,” Stocker said.
No planes were taken out of service, but conducting the test on aircraft out of service will slow deliveries of jets still being built at the final assembly plant in North Charleston, South Carolina.
Boeing also needs to create a plan for aircraft already flying, the FAA said.
The 787 is a twin-aisle aircraft that was launched in 2011 and is primarily used for long international flights.
“The company voluntarily informed us in April that it may not have completed the required inspections to confirm adequate bonding and grounding at the point where the wings connect to the fuselage of certain 787 Dreamliner aircraft,” the company said agency in a written statement. “The FAA is investigating whether Boeing completed inspections and whether company employees may have falsified aircraft records.”
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The company has been under intense pressure since a door plug flew out of a Boeing 737 Max during an Alaska Airlines flight in January, leaving a gaping hole in the plane. The accident halted the progress Boeing appeared to be making in recovering from two deadly Max jet crashes in 2018 and 2019.
The accidents in Indonesia and Ethiopia, in which 346 people died, are also back in the spotlight. The families of some victims have pushed the Justice Department to revive criminal fraud charges against the company, finding that Boeing’s continued failures violated the terms of a 2021 deferred prosecution agreement.
In April, a Boeing whistleblower, Sam Salehpour, testified at a congressional hearing that the company took manufacturing shortcuts to produce the 787 as quickly as possible; His allegations were not directly related to those the company told the FAA last month. The company denied Salehpour’s claims.
In his email, Stocker praised the worker who came forward to report what he saw: “I wanted to personally thank this teammate and commend him for doing the right thing. It is critically important that each of us speak up when we see something that may not look right or needs our attention.”
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