Boeing defended its safety practices of 787 aircraft after testing

• The company refuted whistleblower allegations that 1,400 Boeing planes have significant safety issues.
• The company cited testing conducted between 2010 and 2015, which involved 165,000 cycles.
• Boeing maintains that around 99 percent of the gaps conform to the 005-inch standard.

On Monday, Boeing defended its safety practices, promoting aircraft testing protocols as it prepared for a challenging congressional hearing featuring critics of the embattled aviation giant. The company stated in a PowerPoint presentation accompanying a media briefing with two senior engineers that it is confident in the safety and durability of the 787 and 777. They summarized exhaustive testing procedures to refute whistleblower allegations that some 1,400 Boeing planes suffer from significant safety issues.

Wednesday’s Senate hearing is set to include testimony from Boeing engineer Sam Salehpour, who last week made sweeping charges alleging Boeing’s safety practices are deficient and that the company retaliated against him for speaking out. Titled “Examining Boeing’s Broken Safety Culture: Firsthand Accounts,” the hearing arises as regulators and politicians intensify scrutiny of Boeing following a near-disastrous January 5 Alaska Airlines flight on a 737 MAX. The flight made an emergency landing after a panel of the fuselage blew out in mid-flight.

Salehpour’s charges allege that the 787 Dreamliner contains gaps between parts well above company standards, a dynamic that could “ultimately cause a premature fatigue failure without any warning,” creating unsafe conditions “with potentially catastrophic accidents,” according to an official complaint released by Salehpour’s attorneys to the Federal Aviation Administration.

Steve Chisholm, chief engineer for Boeing Mechanical and Structural Engineering, informed reporters gathered at a Charleston, South Carolina factory and on a webcast that testing found “zero fatigue.”

“We were not surprised by the lack of fatigue findings,” said Chisholm, who noted that the composite materials behind the 787 were picked because they do not fatigue or corrode like traditional metals.

Described by his attorneys as a veteran quality engineer at Boeing, Salehpour criticized Boeing for a series of “shortcuts” that have “allowed potentially defective parts and installations in 787 fleets,” according to the FAA complaint. To compensate for gaps between parts beyond the .005-inch standard set by Boeing, Salehpour stated that Boeing has employed force during assembly 165 times the recommended level of 10 pounds.

After Salehpour’s complaint last week, Boeing issued a lengthy rebuttal, asserting its “full confidence” in the aircraft and highlighting that regulator with the FAA approved Boeing’s processes when the company addressed the gap issue in 2022. Company engineers referenced testing for plane fatigue conducted between 2010 and 2015, which involved 165,000 cycles, or simulations of 165,000 flights.

During this process, a 787 was placed in a test rig and subjected to pressurization for over three times as long as the aircraft’s expected 787 lifespan of 44,000 cycles. Company employees raised concerns about gaps and other aspects of the 787 in the 2020-2022 time period. With 787 deliveries suspended during large stretches of this span, the company removed thousands of fasteners on some 120 planes in inventory and conducted rework on eight planes, according to company officials. While Boeing maintains that around 99 percent of the gaps conform to the .005-inch standard, a small percentage exceeds it. However, testing has shown no sign of fatigue, said Chisholm, who dismissed the elevated force during manufacturing as a non-issue.

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