Dreamliner 787 could break apart midflight over structural flaws: Boeing engineer

Dhaka: Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner contains structural flaws that could cause the aircraft break apart midflight, said reports on April 18 citing an engineer named Sam Salehpour who works at the American plane manufacturing giant.

Salehpour sent his concerns to both the FAA and the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) —the air safety body of the United States—announced a probe into his claims about the Dreamliners.

As per reports, FAA is investigating the Boeing engineer’s claims that state, "sections of the fuselage of the 787 Dreamliner are improperly fastened together and could break apart mid-flight after thousands of trips."

Engineer Sam Salehpour, who has been working at Boeing for over 10 years, claimed that changes to the manufacturing process introduced shortcuts that could lead to parts of the fuselage (the main part of the plane) failing after thousands of flights, added reports.

Sam Salehpour's allegations stem from work on the company's widebody 787 and 777 jets. The engineer informed that he faced retaliation, such as threats and exclusion from meetings, after he identified engineering problems that affected the structural integrity of the jets, reports said citing his attorneys.

Earlier, in 2019, other Boeing workers at its Charleston, South Carolina factory (where the 787 is built) said that they were rushing to finish planes and their safety worries were ignored. Another whistleblower, a quality checker named John Barnett, was found dead in March while suing Boeing over safety concerns that he raised at the 787’s factory, also mentioned reports.

Salehpour, who works at Boeing's plant in Everett, Washington, observed shortcuts used by Boeing to reduce bottlenecks during the 787’s assembly process that placed "excessive stress on major airplane joints, and embedded drilling debris between key joints on more than 1,000 planes," said his lawyers, as per reports.

The engineer claimed he saw problems with misalignment in the production of the 777 widebody aircraft which were remedied by using force. "I literally saw people jumping on the pieces of the airplane to get them to align," reports cited him saying.

Following a January 5 mid-air panel blowout on a 737 MAX plane, Boeing has been grappling with a safety crisis. However, Boeing in a statement said, it was fully confident in the 787 Dreamliner and claims "are inaccurate and do not represent the comprehensive work Boeing has done to ensure the quality and long-term safety of the aircraft," concluded reports.

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