The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has launched a new investigation into Boeing, focusing on the quality inspections of its 787 Dreamliner jets. The probe aims to determine whether Boeing employees failed to conduct certain mandatory inspections and whether any aircraft records were falsified, the FAA said on Monday.
The investigation follows Boeing’s voluntary disclosure to the FAA in April, acknowledging that it might not have completed required inspections to ensure proper bonding and grounding where the wings join the fuselage on certain 787 Dreamliner aircraft. This led to the FAA opening an inquiry to verify if these quality checks were indeed conducted.
The FAA stated that Boeing employees will inspect the Dreamliners that have not yet been delivered to airline customers and will devise a plan for addressing the issue on planes currently in service. Scott Stocker, the Boeing executive overseeing the 787 program, admitted in an internal memo—shared with CNN—that the issue was reported by an employee and constituted “misconduct.” He emphasized, however, that this was not an “immediate safety of flight issue.”
Stocker’s memo revealed that Boeing discovered “several people had been violating Company policies by not performing a required test, but recording the work as having been completed.” Boeing took swift action by informing the FAA and implementing corrective measures. Stocker also noted that the employee who reported the issue would be recognized for their integrity.
This new investigation adds to Boeing’s ongoing scrutiny over safety and quality control. In April, a Boeing engineer, Sam Salehpour, publicly raised different quality concerns about several Boeing models, including the Dreamliner. He claimed that shortcuts in the manufacturing process could lead to small gaps in the fuselage of the 787s, potentially affecting the aircraft’s structural integrity.
