Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun faced harsh questioning from the US Senate on Tuesday (June 18) and accusations from a new whistleblower.
Calhoun appeared before the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations at 2 p.m. Eastern Time on the 18th, marking his first appearance before the Senate since the panic caused by an emergency situation on an Alaska Airlines 737 MAX 9 aircraft in January.
Given the frequent Boeing aircraft accidents, ensuring aircraft quality has become one of the most pressing public concerns.
The company’s cultural environment has long been under scrutiny.
Senator Richard Blumenthal, chairman of the subcommittee and a Democrat from Connecticut, criticized Boeing, saying, “It’s a culture that continues to put profit first, pushes the limit, and ignores employees.”
He said, “This culture allows retaliation against those who don’t toe the line. This culture needs to be repaired.”
Blumenthal revealed that after a hearing with a previous whistleblower in April, a new whistleblower has come forward.
On Tuesday, Blumenthal stated that Sam Mohawk, the current quality assurance inspector at Boeing’s 737 factory in Renton, Washington, recently told the Senate committee that he witnessed Boeing systematically ignoring records and responsibilities for non-conforming parts.
However, Mohawk did not provide detailed descriptions of how Boeing systematically ignored records and responsibilities for non-conforming parts.
In a report released before the Senate committee hearing, Mohawk stated that handling non-conforming parts became more “complex and challenging” after the resumption of MAX production in 2020, following two fatal crashes involving the model in 2018 and 2019. He also mentioned a 300% increase in non-conforming reports compared to before the grounding, and during an inspection, missing parts that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) intentionally overlooked.
Mohawk did not explain the specific reasons for the increased complexity of his quality inspection work or analyze the significant increase in non-conforming reports.
His concern is about compensation, as the workload has increased. The Senate committee stated that Mohawk filed relevant claims with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration in June seeking compensation.
In response, Boeing stated it is reviewing the claims heard on Monday. Boeing did not comment on Mohawk’s claims but emphasized its focus on aircraft quality.
“We encourage our employees to report all issues because our top priority is to ensure the safety of aircraft and public flights,” Boeing said.
Boeing also mentioned increasing the size of its quality team and significantly increasing the number of inspections per aircraft since 2019.
The Senate committee expects Calhoun to acknowledge Boeing’s shortcomings while emphasizing the company’s efforts to improve.
In a pre-written statement, Calhoun said, “Many things have been said about Boeing’s corporate culture, and we have heard these concerns clearly. Our corporate culture is far from perfect, but we are taking action and making progress.”
Calhoun did not provide detailed plans on how to ensure aircraft quality. Boeing has made management adjustments, with Calhoun stating he will step down by the end of the year.
Chairman Blumenthal appears dissatisfied with Boeing’s response. He called the hearing a “moment of reckoning” for Boeing to thoroughly investigate the root causes of quality issues.
Blumenthal is expected to emphasize at the Tuesday hearing that “Boeing needs to stop thinking about the next earnings call and start thinking about the next generation (of safety).”
Since a cabin door plug of a 737 MAX 9 jet fell off in mid-air on January 5, regulatory bodies and airlines have ramped up scrutiny of the aircraft manufacturer.
The National Transportation Safety Board stated that Alaska Airlines lost four critical bolts on its aircraft. The Department of Justice has initiated a criminal investigation into the incident.
Last week, FAA chief Michael Whitaker admitted that the agency was “too hands-off” in its oversight of Boeing before the January 5 incident.
On May 30, Boeing submitted a quality improvement plan to the FAA. Prior to this, Whitaker gave Boeing 90 days to develop a comprehensive plan to address “systematic quality control issues” while prohibiting the company from expanding MAX production.
The Department of Justice is also involved in the investigation. A source familiar with the matter told Reuters last week that Boeing informed the Department of Justice that it did not violate its deferred prosecution agreement following the two fatal crashes involving the 737 MAX aircraft in 2018 and 2019, which resulted in 346 deaths.
According to Reuters, another federal senator is also investigating Boeing.
On June 14, the FAA was investigating whether proof documents for titanium materials used in some recently manufactured Boeing jets were falsified. The FAA stated that Boeing disclosed information voluntarily, “related to a distributor potentially engaging in the falsification or improper representation of records.”
On June 11, in the wake of the rising popularity of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives globally, the workforce composition of Boeing factory employees and management underwent significant changes. As Boeing aircraft incidents continue to occur, the largest American aircraft manufacturer is addressing a series of serious quality and safety issues.