Hours before Boeing CEO David Calhoun is set to appear before Congress, new claims from another whistleblower cast a further shadow on the aerospace giant’s safety and quality control.
Boeing has approximately 300-400 damaged or defective 737 Max aircraft parts as of last year, and eliminated records for many of them from its internal record system, whistleblower Sam Mohawk alleged in a complaint filed with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) on June 11. The complaint was included in a memo sent by the Senate investigations subcommittee to its members that was made public Tuesday.
The complaint alleges that Boeing management sought to hide the faulty parts in an effort to conceal its quality control issues from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Mohawk has worked as an inspector in Boeing’s Quality Assurance unit since 2011.
Mohawk said he has experienced retaliation for voicing his concerns through the company’s Speak Up program, and now faces termination. He also said he “now fears for his personal safety,” after a senior manager told Mohawk that his threats to go to the FAA over compliance issues made other employees feel afraid and threatened.
“We received this document late Monday evening and are reviewing the claims,” a Boeing spokesperson said of Mohawk’s claims. “We continuously encourage employees to report all concerns as our priority is to ensure the safety of our airplanes and the flying public.”
Mohawk is just the latest in a series of whistleblowers who have come forward to describe quality control issues at the company. In April, Boeing whistleblowers told the Senate that three of the company’s plane models — the 737 Max, the 787 Dreamliner and the 777 models — had serious quality concerns.
“This is a culture that continues to prioritize profits, push limits, and disregard its workers. A culture where those who speak up are silenced and sidelined while blame is pushed down to the factory floor,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal, chairman of the investigations subcommittee, said in a statement. “A culture that enables retaliation against those who do not submit to the bottom line. A culture that desperately needs to be repaired.”
Calhoun will appear before the Senate investigations subcommittee on Tuesday, where he is expected to address questions about the company’s safety culture.
“Our culture is far from perfect, but we are taking action and making progress,” Calhoun will say, according to prepared remarks. “We are taking comprehensive action today to strengthen safety and quality.”
The aircraft manufacturer once again came under the microscope this year after a Boeing 737 Max 9 door plug blew out over Portland, Oregon during an Alaska Airlines flight in January. That sparked investigations into the company’s safety and quality control practices from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and FAA.