Boeing says it falsified 787 Dreamliner records as FAA opens new investigation

In the latest disturbing turn of the boeing saga, the company admitted to falsifying records related to the inspection of its 787 Dreamliner aircraft. The company revealed it publicly after news of another federal investigation into the company broke.

The Federal Aviation Administration revealed Monday that it was conducting a new investigation into the embattled plane maker; This focused on whether records related to the company’s 787 Dreamliner had been falsified, as first reported by the Wall Street Journal. Shortly after, the Seattle Times reported that Boeing revealed that employees at its assembly plant in North Charleston, South Carolina, had falsified related records.

When contacted by Gizmodo for comment, the FAA confirmed the details of its investigation.

“The FAA has opened an investigation into Boeing after the company voluntarily informed us in April that it may not have completed required inspections to confirm proper attachment and grounding where the wings attach to the fuselage on certain 787 aircraft. Dreamliner,” the agency said in a statement. statement sent by email. “The FAA is investigating whether Boeing completed inspections and whether company employees may have falsified aircraft records. “As the investigation continues, the FAA will take necessary steps, as always, to ensure the safety of the flying public.”

Boeing has publicly admitted that falsification of records occurred. In a memo originally shared internally at Boeing that was later shared with Gizmodo, one of Boeing’s executives, Scott Stocker, vice president and general manager of the 787 at one of its South Carolina assembly plants, explained a recent incident involving a Boeing teammate who had “Irregularity” seen and reported at the plant. Stocker’s statement reads in part:

The teammate saw what appeared to be an irregularity in a required compliance test at the wing body joint. She raised it with his manager, who reported it to executive management. He wanted to personally thank and congratulate that teammate for doing the right thing. It is essential that each of us speak up when we see something that may not look right or needs attention.

After receiving the report, we quickly reviewed the matter and discovered that several people had been violating Company policies by not performing a required test, but recording the work as completed. As you all know, we have zero tolerance for failure to follow processes designed to ensure quality and safety. We immediately reported what we learned to our regulator and are taking swift and serious corrective action with several teammates.

Stocker added that “Boeing’s engineering team has assessed that this misconduct did not create an immediate flight safety issue.”

Boeing is currently the subject of several different federal investigations. The company has been under intense scrutiny since January, when an Alaska Airlines flight lost part of his helmet, supposedly as a result of a manufacturing error. Regulators have raised questions about Boeing’s safety practices and the company has become the center of numerous federal investigationsas well as congressional scrutiny.

The company’s public relations crisis has also been marred by conspiracy theories as a result of the deaths of multiple corporate whistleblowers who have spoken out about security issues at the company. In March, whistleblower John Barnett, a former Boeing quality control engineer, was found dead in a motel parking lot from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. Barnett was giving legal testimony against the company at the time of his death. Joshua Dean, who previously worked as a quality auditor at the planemaker’s supplier, Spirit AeroSystems, was involved in a similar legal battle with Spirit when he died last week from a fast-spreading infection.

Several other whistleblowers have spoken out against the company, including three who testified in front of Congress at the end of last month.

A version of this article originally appeared on Gizmodo..