The Boeing 737 whistleblower: ‘Told to shut up’

Boeing launches plane despite warnings of faults.

The alarm comes from one of the company’s engineers who testified before the Senate:

– I was honestly told to shut up, says Sam Salehpour.

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The crisis for the aircraft manufacturer Boeing continues.

At two Senate hearings on Wednesday in Washington, US, employees questioned the safety of how the company builds its planes, reports CNN.

One of the key witnesses is Boeing engineer Sam Salehpour, a whistleblower who claims he has been threatened by executives after raising various safety concerns for years.

According to Salehpour, Boeing is deliberately launching “defective aircraft.”

“I have serious concerns about the safety of the 787 and 777 aircraft and am willing to take professional risks to talk about them,” he said during Wednesday’s hearing.

– I was ignored. I was told not to create delays. I was honestly told to shut up.

In recent years, Boeing’s aircraft, which are used by airlines worldwide, have suffered from very serious incidents linked to suspected manufacturing negligence.

Just over five years ago, the company’s new model 737 Max was involved in two identical fatal crashes in a short time. A total of 346 people lost their lives.

The whistleblower: Must not document

As recently as March this year, one of Boeing’s larger aircraft lost significant altitude during a flight to New Zealand. The passengers were thrown headlong against the roof and close to 50 people were injured.

The same week, it was reported that whistleblower John Barnett, who raised the alarm about quality problems and systematic negligence at Boeing, is believed to have committed suicide. His death is still under investigation by US police.

Barnett sounded the alarm in 2017, alleging, among other things, that the manufacturer deliberately risked the lives of passengers to push costs and to increase the production rate.

During Wednesday’s hearings in Washington, similar information emerged.

According to Boeing engineer Sam Salehpour, the company has a “very negative” attitude towards safety work.

– When I bring something up to my boss, he prevents me from even documenting or passing on the information. For a quality manager to say we shouldn’t send a question to an expert… that’s troubling, Salehpour said.

“A criminal cover-up”

Another witness, Ed Pierson, who is a former Boeing executive, called the investigation into the January flight crash “a criminal cover-up.”

It was in January this year that a hole the size of a refrigerator was torn open in the cabin wall of a Boeing 737 Max aircraft – at an altitude of 5,000 meters. The plane, from Alaska Airlines, was fortunately able to make an emergency landing – without serious injuries to the passengers.

Later, the same fault was found on several planes of the same model. There were simply missing bolts, or they weren’t screwed down enough.

After Ed Pierson’s testimony, several senators expressed strong concerns.

“This story is serious, even shocking,” said Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal.

At a briefing Monday before the hearing, Boeing said it has encouraged employees to raise safety concerns. They are also said to have taken action after the Alaska Air incident.