FAA boss blasts Boeing for focusing on ‘production’ instead of ‘safety and quality’ after visiting warehouses where planes are manufactured following ‘string of incidents’

The head of the Federal Aviation Administration has blasted Boeing for focusing on “production” rather than “safety and quality.”

Administrator Michael Whitaker was unimpressed with the aerospace giant after visiting its facilities.

“My impressions were similar to the culture review that was just completed at Boeing and our audit, which is that there are issues surrounding the safety culture at Boeing,” he told Lester Holt on NBC Nightly News.

‘Their priorities were production, and not safety and quality. So what we’re really focused on now is shifting that focus, from production to safety and quality.’

It comes after a series of terrifying incidents that have occurred aboard Boeing jets in recent months – from a wheel falling from an Osaka-bound plane in early March, to a panel blowing off a plane shortly after it flew from San Francisco last week had taken off.

FAA Administrator Whitaker visited the Boeing facilities and claimed it was prioritizing production over safety.

Asked if there were any protocols not being followed in the aircraft manufacturer’s approach to aircraft production, he said: ‘Not what you would expect when safety is the first priority.

“Any time someone comes into the FAA to provide information about their company, the first thing I expect they will talk about is safety, because that’s where we all have to start.

“If it’s not safe, the whole system doesn’t work as it should.”

It comes after Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury told the Europe 2024 conference in Berlin that Boeing’s well-publicized safety failures are damaging the image of the aerospace economy.

‘I am not happy with my competitor’s problems. They are not good for the industry as a whole,” Faury said when asked about Boeing.

“We are in an industry where quality and safety are the highest priority,” he added.

Boeing’s share price has fallen 11.6 percent in the past month, while Airbus rose 13.1 percent.

Yesterday, United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby took steps to reassure customers that flying with the company is safe in an email distributed to subscribers.

“Safety is our top priority and at the center of everything we do,” Kirby said in an email to customers on Monday.

“Unfortunately, our airline has experienced a number of incidents in recent weeks that remind us of the importance of safety.”

The FAA is investigating the concerning incidents, which Kirby described in the email as “all unrelated.”

He added that United Airlines reviews the details of each incident “and uses these insights to inform our safety training and procedures for all employee groups.”

The aviation industry has come under scrutiny following the series of recent accidents, starting with the blowing off of a door on an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 Max 9 on January 5.

Just last week, a United Airlines Boeing 737-824 from San Francisco was grounded after a panel was found missing when it landed at Medford Airport in Oregon.

Jackson County Airport Director Amber Judd said the panel fell from the 25-year-old plane mid-flight and no injuries were reported by passengers or crew.

Three days earlier, a Boeing plane was forced to land after hydraulic fluid spouted from the landing gear. It was also a United Airlines flight.

It is also being investigated that the emergency landing occurred when the 777-300 bound for San Francisco took off from Sydney, with film material leaking from the undercarriage.

Boeing is now instructing airlines to inspect switches on pilot seats in its flagship 787 Dreamliner jets – after a published report said an accidental cockpit seat movement likely caused the sudden fall of a LATAM Airlines plane earlier this week.

It said it recommends airlines inspect the motorized cockpit seats the next time they perform maintenance.

The aircraft manufacturer then pointed to instructions on, among other things, turning off the motors that move the seats in its 787s, before labeling the advice as little more than a “precautionary measure.”

It also comes less than a week after a former Boeing executive was found dead of an apparent suicide while giving depositions for a lawsuit he filed against the company claiming he witnessed the installation of second-rate parts on planes .

The FAA has since revealed that the company failed 33 of 89 audits during an investigation of Boeing’s 737 Max – a model it planned to update with the long-delayed Max 10.

After the incident – ​​and several previous ones – United Airlines asked the company to halt work on the unreleased planes: a clear sign of declining airline confidence.

Boeing whistleblower found dead, 62-year-old John Barnett, had issued stark warnings about the aviation giant’s 787 Dreamliner and 737 Max models in an interview just weeks before his death.

In the midst of deposition in a Charleston whistleblower case involving the production of the 787 Dreamliner aircraft, Barnett was found with a “self-inflicted” gunshot wound in the parking lot of a hotel in Charleston, South Carolina.

The FAA is investigating nine incidents involving United aircraft this month alone.

Whitaker’s interview with host Holt airs tonight on NBC Nightly News at 6:30 PM ET.