FAA opens new Boeing safety investigation into ‘missed’ 787 Max inspections amid claims employees falsified records

The FAA today announced a new safety investigation into the beleaguered aircraft manufacturer Boeing.

The Wall Street Journal reports that the purpose of the investigation is whether Boeing has met safety inspection requirements for all of its troublesome 787 Max jets.

Regulators say Boeing told them their workers may have skipped some inspections of 787 Dreamliner planes.

The FAA added that it is investigating “whether Boeing completed inspections and whether company employees may have falsified aircraft records.”

Boeing whistleblower Sam Salehpour testified on Capitol Hill in April about safety problems in the company’s planes, particularly the 787 models.

A door plug blew out during an Alaska Airlines flight on January 5, 2024 in Portland, Oregon

A Boeing 737 Max operated by United Airlines veered off the tarmac into the grass as it left the runway at George Bush Airport in Houston on Friday.

Shocking footage showed the plane lying flat on its wings at the side of a runway after apparently crashing

The Alaska Airlines plane that had its door blown off in flight at 16,000 feet in January was a 737 Max 9, and that is reportedly when the FAA began investigating Boeing and its construction processes.

Salehpour claimed prior to his testimony that he “literally saw people jumping on the pieces of the plane trying to get them to line up.”

Boeing has categorically denied Salehpour’s claims regarding people jumping on planes.

Steve Chisholm, Boeing’s chief engineer, defended the planes in April, saying researchers have found no fatigue cracks on in-service 787 jets that have undergone heavy maintenance.

Yet the 787 aircraft has a history of serious problems, even though Boeing is currently confident in its structural integrity.

Pictured: Boeing engineer Sam Salehpour testifies before the U.S. Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Subcommittee on Investigations on April 17

Boeing halted deliveries of the 787 widebody jet for more than a year until August 2022 as the FAA investigated quality issues and manufacturing defects.

In 2021, Boeing said the planes had shims that were not the correct size and that some planes had areas that did not meet skin flatness specifications. A shim is a thin piece of material used to fill small gaps in a manufactured product.

The 737 Max, a narrow-body jet, has also had its fair share of close calls in the sky.

A Southwest Airlines Boeing 737 had to make an emergency landing at Denver International Airport in early April after part of its engine blew off.

In March, an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 landed in Portland with its cargo door ajar. Passengers’ luggage and pets were downstairs, but Boeing said no damage was caused to the animals.

Joshua Dean (pictured) died suddenly on April 30 at the age of 45 after raising the alarm about alleged defects in 737 Max jets

Boeing whistleblower John Barnett was found dead in his truck outside a South Carolina hotel, days after testifying against his former employer

Also in March, a United 737 plane veered off the runway after landing in Houston. The 160 passengers and six crew members were not injured.

The new research caused the aircraft manufacturer’s shares to go into freefall on Monday.

The company is already dealing with the second death of a whistleblower who raised the alarm about its security practices.

Joshua Dean was that second whistleblower and he raised the alarm about alleged defects in 737 Max jets.

Dean’s family said the 45-year-old died in hospital after a sudden illness.

Former Boeing executive John Barnett, 62, was the other Boeing whistleblower to die. He publicly discussed concerns he had about high-pressure workers purposefully putting substandard parts on aircraft assembly lines earlier this year.

After claiming his bosses were spying on him, Barnett subsequently committed suicide beginning of March.