Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun testifies before a subcommittee of the Senate Energy and National Resources Committee on the company’s safety culture, following several recent incidents on Boeing aircraft, Washington, DC, June 18, 2024.
Allison Bailey Afp | Getty Images
A US Senate panel is investigating Boeing‘s safety culture was faulted planemaker quality practices and supervision by the Federal Aviation Administration citing documents obtained in an active investigation.
The Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, which held a hearing Wednesday with FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker, said Boeing workers continue to feel pressure to prioritize production speed over quality.
The Democratic staff of the committee said in a memo that Boeing struggled to ensure employees were adequately trained, failed to ensure improper parts were not installed and quality inspection procedures and FAA reviews raised questions about the qualifications and independence of individuals conducting inspections.
At some facilities, Boeing personnel are allowed to inspect their own work.
“Given the depth and history of Boeing’s safety defects, the lack of candor with the FAA, and the agency’s reactive regulatory stance, the newly released information raises questions about the effectiveness of the FAA’s oversight of the company,” said the committee.
Boeing said it is “taking important steps to develop a safety culture that empowers and encourages all employees to share their voices, but it requires continued focus.”
The FAA did not comment but Whitaker said at a House hearing Tuesday that Boeing needs to make significant improvements to its safety culture that may not be completed for years.
The committee released details of an FAA audit it completed after a door plug missing a key bolt blew up a new Alaska Airlines 737 MAX 9 jet at 16,000 feet in January.
The Department of Justice and the FAA are investigating.
The 116-page FAA letter details 97 Boeing allegations of noncompliance that span “problems in Boeing’s manufacturing process control, parts handling and storage, and product control.” The audit found 23 instances where employees “failed to follow processes or lacked expertise,” the memo said.
Whitaker prohibited Boeing from expanding production of the MAX until it made major quality improvements.
The committee said an internal Boeing survey from May showed many engineers felt forced to prioritize speed over quality in aircraft production and said the FAA identified a lack of quality inspections at Boeing in 2017.
Whitaker’s written testimony for the Senate hearing said the FAA will “promptly notify, in real time, any activity that may be criminal so that the DOJ can take any action it deems appropriate.”
Boeing agreed to plead guilty to criminal fraud conspiracy charges in July after violating a 2021 agreement with the DOJ.
