Boeing whistle-blower says told to ‘shut up’ when he raised safety issues
- The aviation giant is under scrutiny by US lawmakers after a door plug blew off an Alaska Airlines plane mid-flight in January
- The planemaker says documents on the part in question were never created, but an ex-Boeing engineer says he has handed the records to the FBI
Boeing’s safety culture and manufacturing quality, both at the centre of a full-blown crisis following a January mid-air panel blowout, faced scrutiny on Wednesday in two US Senate hearings, as a whistle-blower said he had been told to “shut up” for raising issues.
Boeing has been grappling with a safety crisis after the door plug panel blew off an Alaska Airlines flight that took off from Portland, Oregon, on January 5. The planemaker has undergone a management shake-up, US regulators have put curbs on its production, and deliveries fell by half in March.
Testimony at the US Senate permanent subcommittee on investigations raised questions about missing records surrounding the panel, along with production concerns over two separate Boeing widebody aircraft.
Former Boeing engineer Ed Pierson said he turned over records, sent to him from an internal whistle-blower, to the FBI that he said provided information about the plug.
Boeing has said it believed that required documents detailing the removal of the door plug were never created.
