Catherine Rusoff
After being notified by Boeing that some company employees were unable to complete specific inspections in some 787 Dreamliners but reported that the checks were completed, essentially falsifying the inspection records, the Federal Aviation Administration opened a formal investigation.
Inspections check for proper bonding and grounding of the fasteners that connect the wings to the fuselage. The test aims to confirm that the plane is properly grounded against electrical currents such as a lightning strike.
A source familiar with the situation estimates the potential number of aircraft involved at approximately 450, including about 60 aircraft still within Boeing’s production system.
The planes still in Boeing’s possession are being reinspected, according to the FAA. A source briefed on the situation said Boeing engineers assessed there was no immediate safety issue because the 787 was built with multiple redundancies to protect against events such as a lightning strike.
Eric Piermont/AFP via Getty Images
“As the investigation continues, the FAA will take all necessary steps – as always – to ensure the safety of the flying public,” an FAA spokesperson said in a statement to CBS News.
Boeing notified employees of the situation last Monday in an email from Scott Stocker, vice president and general manager of the 787 program. The email, obtained by CBS News, says that the Boeing engineering team “ assessed that this misconduct did not create an immediate flight safety problem.”
Stocker credited a Boeing employee in South Carolina for spotting the problem and reporting it.
“The teammate saw what appeared to be an irregularity in a required compliance test at the wing body junction. He raised the matter with his manager, who brought it to the attention of executive leadership,” Stocker wrote. “After receiving the report, we quickly reviewed the matter and discovered that several people were violating Company policies by not performing a required test but recording the work as completed.”
Stocker told employees that Boeing has “zero tolerance for not following processes designed to ensure quality and safety” and that the company is “taking swift and serious corrective action with several teammates.”
That email comes less than two weeks after a Boeing quality engineer testified before a Senate subcommittee about concerns he said he raised about 787 Dreamliner production that were rejected by management.
Boeing declined to discuss specific numbers of aircraft involved as it said it was still gathering information on the situation, but a potential population in the hundreds would indicate a situation that had potentially been going on for a significant period of time.
At this time, the FAA has not determined that there is, in fact, a safety problem with the 787 or a flaw in the production process. Currently, the FAA has not determined that there is not an immediate safety issue with the Dreamliners currently in service.
The FAA investigation was first reported by the Wall Street Journal.
Kris Van Cleaves
