Sam Salehpour, a quality engineer at Boeing, testified before a U.S. Senate subcommittee on Wednesday and reiterated his concerns about the Boeing 787-9, again urging the company to ground all Boeing 787-9s currently operating globally, warning that the long-haul jets could "fall apart at the joint."
In addition, in an interview with NBC, Salehpour called the quality problems of the Boeing 787-9 "the worst I've ever seen in my life" and "never let family and friends ride."
Salehpour's lawyer said she had heard several other potential whistleblowers with similar concerns about Boeing's safety practices.
By the end of last year, a total of 619 Boeing 787-9s were in service worldwide.
The necessary parts are missing during the assembly of the fuselage
Salehpour claims that Boeing took shortcuts in the construction of the 787-9 to save costs and reduce difficulties in the assembly process. He said that the main parts (fuselage) of the Boeing 787-9 were not properly joined together, and there were small gaps in the parts connections. He warned that during repeated flights, the fuselage could most likely break in the air.
Salehpour first "whistle-blows" was when a formal complaint was filed with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in January of this year, when a Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 Max 9 aircraft burst a door plug in the air.
Salehpour has seen Boeing's mechanics use brute force to push the fuselage together during assembly. Under normal manufacturing procedures, small pieces of metal should be inserted into the gap to fill the space. But Boeing allegedly often bypasses these procedures. The probable result is that unfilled gaps can cause the fuselage to move out of alignment, significantly reducing the life of the aircraft.
Boeing's public relations said the allegations were untrue
For its part, Boeing denied that the 787-9 was unsafe and invited the media to tour its South Carolina manufacturing facility. The company called the allegations "inaccurate" and said it had "complete confidence in the safety and durability of the Boeing 787-9."
Since 2021, the Boeing 787-9 has been suspended by the FAA for nearly two years due to this "exact problem with fuselage clearance". Boeing delivered the new 787-9 aircraft in order to regain FAA approval and conducted stress tests on the aircraft for 165,000 takeoffs and landings, well beyond the aircraft's recommended service life and found no evidence of possible failure.
According to NBC, the company also inspected 689 of the more than 1,100 787-9s worldwide.
Airlines and routes using the Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner
As readers, no one wants to gamble on their lives, even if this accusation can't be fully proven for the time being. If there is really a problem with the airframe, then in the thousands of flights of the aircraft, there will be a "catastrophic failure" one day. After all, at a height of thousands of miles, the details of the size of a hair will make the difference between life and death.
Therefore, we have found all the airlines that use Boeing 787-9 for you, and everyone should pay attention to avoid taking it. Among the most popular airlines - Air Canada, Cathay Pacific and Xiamen Airlines, flights between China (including Hong Kong and Taiwan) and Canada use Boeing 787-9 routes:
Air Canada
Vancouver flies directly to Beijing, Shanghai and Taipei, Toronto to Shanghai, Beijing and Hong Kong, and Montreal to Shanghai and Hong Kong
Air China
Domestic direct flights to Chengdu, Shanghai, Guangzhou, etc., and American routes include direct flights from Beijing to Montreal
China Southern Airlines
Vancouver flies directly to Guangzhou
Some airlines list the routes that use this type of aircraft, which can be viewed on the airline's official website or ticket booking platform.