Boeing hit after new whistleblower raises safety concerns

MicroWave@lemmy.world to News@lemmy.world – 300 points – Boeing hit after new whistleblower raises safety concerns
bbc.com

Boeing is facing new pressure after a whistleblower reported safety concerns over the manufacturing of some of its planes to US regulators.

Engineer Sam Salehpour accused Boeing of taking shortcuts in the construction of its 787 and 777 jets.

He claimed he was "threatened with termination" after raising concerns with bosses.

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The whistleblower complaint, which was first reported by the New York Times, is the latest incident to focus attention on the safety of planes made by US-based Boeing, one of the world's two major producers of commercial planes. 

The company was already facing criminal investigation and other legal troubles, after an unused exit door broke off of one of its smaller 737 Max 9 planes shortly after take-off in January.

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He claimed he was “threatened with termination” after raising concerns with bosses.

Which Boeing apparently takes more literally than other companies.

Is that to say that the whistleblower is going to make a public courtroom 'head shot' against the corporate giant ....

.... or is the whistleblower going to end up with another conveniently timed self inflicted 'head shot' that will end their life.

Man this guys got some balls coming forward after they literally shot the other guy in the fucking head fml

There's some definitive "do it, you won't" energy here.

Which to be fair, it would look really bad for Boeing if this guy "committed suicide" too. To the point it might actually be safer to be the second guy.

Boeing isn't worried about "looking bad". They'll kill this whistleblower too if they get the opportunity.

There's no way whoever ordered the hit the first time (assuming it really was an ordered hit ... and it probably was) individually is going to want that heat.

It's one of those things that "if one of your acquaintances dies, it's plausible it really was an accident like you said. If people who hangout with you keep dropping ... a lot more eyes are looking at you."

It's probably not a true "company" position to murder whistle blowers, but somebody presumably thought it was in their own best interest.

They would have to be extraordinarily blatant to murder two people. One person they can get away with, but two people, probably not.

I dont know how much more blatant the last murder could be....

If anything, it only emboldened them to see how little anyone cares

I mean, it could have been a LOT more blatant.

But I agree on your second point.

It's gotten almost zero real public attention.

And tomorrow he’ll be found dead in his car with “self-inflicted” wounds.

But seriously…whistleblowers are our modern day sentinels. I have the utmost respect for people willing to expose the truth at significant risk and danger to themselves. I hope I would have the integrity to stand up for what’s right if put into such a position.

Hear, hear. It's easy for all of us armchair patriots to criticize from our nice, safe homes, but whistleblowers, like union organizers, protesters, and conscientious objectors, are actually exposed to genuine risk to life and limb. It takes serious, real world bravery to do that.

Next week's headline:

Boeing hit new whistleblower after raising safety concerns.

Mr. Salehpour is going to need an independent 24/7 security detail lest the same fate befall him as Mr. Barnett

Boeing orders hit after new whistleblower raises safety concerns

"The issues raised have been subject to rigorous engineering examination under [Federal Aviation Administration] oversight," the company said.

You mean the guy you handed an FAA sash to and told "it would be an awful shame if this didn't get signed off on, we'd have to make some pretty severe job cuts, wink wink?"

737-800 is not the same as a max 8, right?

Because maybe I'm the only weirdo that's doing this, but I end up picking flights that aren't new Boeing aircraft if I can help it.