Thus far, 2024 has not been a fortunate year for Boeing, the largest aerospace company in the world. Allegations of safety concerns and failed audits are causing the corporation grief as they work to restore their suddenly controversial public image.
The trouble began on January fifth, when a segment of a Boeing 737 Max model plane detached in the midst of ascension. Passengers were terrified, objects were sucked out of the aircraft due to the pressure change, and oxygen masks were deployed. Thankfully, the pilots were able to conduct an emergency landing, and no one was seriously injured. In the wake of this incident, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), launched an investigation into the safety of Boeing’s aircraft.
In this examination, the FAA discovered that Boeing failed 33 out of 97 audits in relation to their 737 Max planes. In other words, many of their financial records of what money went where during production, were inaccurate.
It is not only the 737 Max planes that have come under scrutiny in recent weeks. On March 11th, a 787 Dreamliner suddenly began to plummet towards the ground when the pilot lost control. The aircraft recovered and landed safely, but not before dozens of turbulence-related injuries befell passengers. This incident was deemed a technical issue by experts. After two major accidents occurred within such a short timeframe, Boeing’s stocks plunged faster than a speeding jet — with more than $40 billion lost in market value.
Now, there are more eyes fixed on the aerospace industry than ever following the most recent development in the Boeing saga; a whistleblower’s scathing testimony. Earlier in April, Boeing engineer Sam Salehpour, met virtually with several reporters to make severe allegations against Boeing’s production. His motivations, according to Salehpour himself, are not vindictive.
“I am doing this not because I want Boeing to fail, but because I want it to succeed and prevent crashes from happening… The truth is Boeing can’t keep going the way it is. It needs to do a little better, I think,” Salehpour said, according to CNN.
Salehpour’s claims were that Boeing cut corners in the manufacturing of its 787 Dreamliner jets, causing invisible issues to the integrity of the aircraft that would only be evident once it was too late, and an accident had already occurred. Allegedly, Boeing rushed their engineers and pressured them to overlook problems in favor of efficiency. Salehpour said this caused major issues that posed great safety risks.
Boeing was quick to rebuke the accusations.
“We are fully confident in the safety and durability of (our planes). These claims are inaccurate,” Boeing said in a statement, according to CNN.
The rebuttal was published the day after Salehpour’s report. Right now, the Boeing corporation is scrambling for a way to amend trust with its customers. CEO Brian West, has pledged to focus company efforts on the safety, and quality of commercial Boeing planes going forward. However, it will be an uphill battle for the company to restore its image after such a harrowing start to the year.
