Boeing whistleblower Sam Salehpour has called for the plane maker to ground its entire fleet of 787 Dreamliner jets over safety issues, ahead of a Senate hearing on Wednesday.
Lawyers for the Boeing engineer wrote to the Federal Aviation Administration in January detailing Salehpour’s observations of “major lapses in the company’s quality control process” and Boeing’s “culture of cutting corners.” The letter also said that Salehpour, who has worked for the plane maker for more than a decade, had been ignored by management after raising his concerns.
This revelation came on the heels of a series of incidents involving Boeing jets, including a door plug on a 737 jet flying off in midair during an Alaska Airline flight in January.
The 737 was also involved in two fatal crashes in 2018 and 2019, which were blamed on “repeated and serious failures” by Boeing and the FAA.
When asked about the 787 in an interview with NBC aired on Tuesday night, Salehpour said: “The entire fleet worldwide, as far as I’m concerned right now, needs attention.”
“You need to check your gaps and make sure that you don’t have potential for premature failure,” he added.
