Whistleblowers tell Senate committees: Boeing officials hurried production, hid safety dangers

April 17 (UPI) -- Boeing is producing unsafe aircraft and hiding the extent of dangers, a pair of whistleblowers told a Senate subcommittee Wednesday.

The Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations heard testimony on Boeing's "broken safety culture" following accusations about its 787 Dreamliner by whistleblower Sam Salephour.

Salephour, an engineer at Boeing for more than 10 years who warned that parts of Boeing's 787 Dreamliner risk breaking apart after thousands of trips due to being improperly fastened during assembly, told the subcommittee he has "serious concerns" regarding the safety of the Boeing 787 and 777 airliners, CNN and the Seattle Times reported.

Those concerns include the way in which they were built and Boeing officials admonishing him to stay quiet and not cause delays when he questioned the safety of the aircraft being manufactured.

"They are putting out defective airplanes," Salephour told the subcommittee. "I have serious concerns about the safety of the 787 and 777 aircraft and I'm willing to take on professional risk to talk about them."

Among Salephour's concerns is what he called Boeing's "unmeasured and unlimited" force used to align components that weren't fitting together as designed. Those efforts included having workers jump up and down on parts to force them to align, he said.

Salephour said gaps between some aircraft sections exceed Boeing's safety guidelines, but he was told to "shut up" when airing his concerns to Boeing officials.

Former Boeing manager Ed Pierson also testified before the subcommittee Wednesday and said Boeing officials engaged in a "criminal coverup" by withholding evidence of "hectic work" done on an Alaskan Airlines plane the had an unsecured fuselage plug fall from the 737 MAX 9 aircraft shortly after if took off from the Portland, Ore., airport in January.

Pierson also is the executive director of The Foundation for Aviation Safety.

The Senate Commerce Committee also met Wednesday to review findings from an independent expert Federal Aviation Administration panel on safety management processes and culture at Boeing.

Boeing's CEO David Calhoun, was invited to testify before the subcommittee but did not attend.

"The whistleblower will have the guts to show up, and I'm hoping that Dave Calhoun will as well at some point in the future," Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., told The Hill before the subcommittee hearing.

Blumenthal added the hearing of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations will focus on "shocking allegations about failures and safety practices and culture" at Boeing.

Salephour claims that risk surrounding the Dreamliners was caused by assembly line changes in how different sections coming from different manufacturers lack uniformity where they are fastened together.

Unless this is corrected, Salephour said, "catastrophic failure" could result.

The whistleblower said production shortcuts were implemented to reduce production bottlenecks.

Boeing denied the assembly process puts excess pressure on the plane's joints.

Steve Chisholm, chief engineer for mechanical and structuring at Boeing, said Boeing created damage to fuselage panels in tests that were repeated in excess of what the jets would experience in service and found "the damage didn't grow." according to Chisholm

Boeing spokeswoman Jessica Kowal claimed allegations about the 787's structural integrity are inaccurate and the company is "fully confident in the 787 Dreamliner."

Boeing is being investigated by the U.S. Senate and the FAA following the loss of a door plug in mid-flight on an Alaskan Airlines 737 Max 9.

Boeing whistleblower John Barnett, who had also expressed concerns about quality control, was found dead of an apparent suicide last month in a South Carolina parking lot.

In a March 19 letter from the Senate Investigations Committee Blumenthal and Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wisc., told Calhoun that the company's alleged treatment of Barnett and apparent handling of his allegations "raise many questions about your company's commitment to aircraft safety."

"The Subcommittee's receipt of these allegations follows several contemporaneous reports that have also called into question Boeing's safety policies and practices," they wrote.

That letter demanded Boeing turn over records relating to safety practices and whistleblower protocols and policies. That information request included all records relating to 777 and 787 aircraft safety as well as records relating to employees raising concerns about the safety and integrity of the jets.

The information request covers January 1, 2018, to the present.