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FAA Launches New Investigation into Boeing

 

The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating Boeing after the company itself raised red flags over potentially incomplete inspections on some 787 Dreamliner aircraft. While it has limited information about the exact nature of the matter, the FAA will attempt to determine whether required inspections – vital to proper electrical grounding where the wings join the fuselage – were conducted by Boeing employees, who are also the focus of a second investigation that involves potential falsified aircraft records. This probe follows a report by Boeing in April that it believed inspection procedures had fallen short. In a statement, the FAA reassured the public: ‘Safety is our top priority – and the agency will take appropriate action based on the results of our review’.

Dreamliner Inspections Under Scrutiny

 

Investigators want to know if proper inspections were made aboard specific Dreamliners at the wing-to-body junctions where all the electrical work is done. Any water that seeps into the planes at those joints could be very dangerous should it short-circuit the electrics. The FAA is also looking into the possibility that Boeing employees faked records of the inspections – they wrote down that the work had been done, even if it wasn’t. While this investigation plays out, Boeing will scrutinize undelivered Dreamliners and plan a course of action on those aloft.

Internal Whistleblower Raises Concerns

 

The FAA’s preliminary report implies misconduct on the part of Boeing employees, who failed to perform the required test but logged it as done. Boeing insists this does not present a safety issue. The investigation was launched by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in April after it received information from Boeing regarding certain aspects of its manufacturing process. The story came on the heels of his exposé of ‘deep-rooted quality issues’ at Boeing on 17 April, after he took his complaints public. The engineer had raised issues about quality in Boeing products, including the Dreamliner, on several occasions before that.

Uncertainties and Moving Forward

 

This investigation may also pose a question about the process and product control of Boeing inside the factory. Whether there is an engineering problem or a control issue, it is the FAA’s responsibility to prove it in an airworthiness investigation. Meanwhile, while Boeing proceeds with corrective measures, such as rechecks and with its internal search for wrongful employee behavior, passengers and the airlines that they use are following closely the progress of the much-publicised investigation, waiting to get an official picture and see where it might lead next.

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