The unexpected death of the whistleblower who exposed Boeing's safety issues has caused another stir for this controversial company - a secret investigation video filmed ten years ago once again reminds Boeing of its wrongdoing.
The security issues of this company have always been of great concern. Far away, since March, there have been numerous reported security issues. On March 4th, shortly after taking off from Houston, a United Airlines Boeing 737-900 aircraft experienced continuous flames from its left engine and made an emergency landing upon returning. On March 7th, a Boeing 777-200 passenger plane flying from San Francisco to Japan by United Airlines had a wheel on the left main landing gear come off after takeoff and made an emergency alternate landing at Los Angeles Airport. On March 8th, a United Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft slid off the runway while taxiing to the boarding gate after landing in Houston. On March 9th, an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737MAX8 arrived at Portland Airport and found that the cargo door was open
So, when the whistleblower - John Barnett, who had worked at Boeing for 32 years and had served as Boeing's quality control manager - was found dead in a car in a hotel parking lot in the United States, and had "shot himself", it is somewhat speculated that a few days before John's death, he was still busy with his lawsuit against Boeing. These lawsuits mainly involve John repeatedly reporting production standards and safety issues at Boeing.
John's death has raised concerns about whether Boeing has any safety issues.
According to a secret investigation video by Al Jazeera ten years ago, there are serious management loopholes at Boeing's factory in South Carolina, with management turning a blind eye to up to 90% of production issues. There is also a phenomenon of employee drug addiction - some employees openly use drugs during work hours, even bringing drugs into the production line, posing a serious threat to product quality.
In fact, as early as 2011, workers at Boeing factories had been involved in drugs. On September 29th of that year, more than 30 employees of Boeing's military aircraft manufacturing plant in Pennsylvania were arrested on suspicion of abusing prescription drugs for soft drug use.
In recent years, safety issues at Boeing factories have also been frequently reported. In 2019, The New York Times also reported on issues with Boeing. The New York Times found that the company values production speed more than quality by reviewing hundreds of Boeing internal emails, documents, and federal government records, as well as interviewing more than ten current and former employees. Faced with long-term production delays, Boeing has urged employees to rush to produce passenger planes, but has been ignoring the issues reported by employees.
The report also stated that Boeing employees have reported safety and other issues to federal authorities more than ten times, including defects in the manufacturing process, hazardous debris on board, and Boeing's pressure not to allow employees to report. Some employees directly sued Boeing because they reported defects in the company's manufacturing and were retaliated against.
According to a report by The New York Times, Clayton, a technical worker at Boeing's North Charleston factory that produces the Dreamliner, said he often finds debris near the wiring under the cockpit, which is very dangerous. He said, "I once told my wife that I would never consider taking this type of plane. It's a safety issue."
According to current and former Boeing employees, some local workers sometimes make dangerous mistakes, such as some planes having installed wrong parts and often leaving metal debris in the cabin, often very close to the electrical system. During the test flight of the aircraft, it was found that there were fragments inside the engine and tail wing, which almost caused the malfunction.
The spokesperson for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), Rensford, stated that FAA personnel have inspected several aircraft certified by Boeing for the absence of such debris and have indeed found the same metal debris. He admitted that in some cases, this issue could cause a short circuit in the wires and even lead to a fire.
However, no matter how the media secretly visits and investigates, whenever news is exposed, most of what Boeing needs to do is to refute rumors and criticize reports for being untrue.
I believe Boeing is very clear about whether the report is true.
On March 12th, The New York Times reported that due to the frequent incidents of Boeing aircraft accidents in recent times, the Federal Aviation Administration of the United States has conducted an investigation into Boeing and its airframe suppliers. The results showed that out of 89 audits, as many as 33 were not passed, and a total of 97 possible non compliant situations were identified. Thirteen audits were conducted on the aircraft supplier, inevitably Rui Aviation Systems, of which seven failed, more than half.
The Federal Aviation Administration of the United States stated that during the 6-week audit, "multiple situations" were discovered, involving these two companies "possibly not complying with some manufacturing quality control requirements.". Among them, Boeing has "non-compliance" in manufacturing process control, component transportation and storage, and product control.
Regarding the official investigation, inevitably sharp stated that it is in communication with Boeing and the Federal Aviation Administration to take "corresponding corrective measures.". But Boeing still remains "stubborn", responding that based on the audit results of the Federal Aviation Administration and the report of the expert evaluation team, Boeing has a clear understanding of what needs to be done.
This response seems to be saying: Oh, I get it.
Article | Reporter Leng Shuang