The news keeps getting stranger and stranger for Boeing. And worse. The latest revelation suggests that the increasingly battered airline may have failed to perform required inspections on their popular 787 Dreamliner.
The U.S. Federation Aviation Administration has opened yet another investigation into Boeing after the company told the FAA that it may not have inspected new 787’s as they rolled off the production line. Kind of a big oops.
Reuters reports the planemaker said a few employees had committed "misconduct" by claiming some tests had been completed.
The FAA said it is investigating whether Boeing completed the inspections to confirm adequate bonding and grounding where the wings join the fuselage on certain 787 Dreamliner airplanes "and whether company employees may have falsified aircraft records."
“The FAA is investigating whether Boeing completed the inspections and whether company employees may have falsified aircraft records. At the same time, Boeing is reinspecting all 787 airplanes still within the production system and must also create a plan to address the in-service fleet,” the agency said in a statement. “As the investigation continues, the FAA will take any necessary action – as always – to ensure the safety of the flying public.”
USA TODAY said it received a copy of a memo that 787 program lead Scott Stocker sent to Boeing employees last week addressing the issue.
According to the document, a Boeing whistleblower told his manager that there were “irregularities” regarding a conformance test where the wings meet the body of the 787 fuselage.
The Guardian said the problem was an example of “misconduct,” but not “an immediate safety of flight issue.”
The FAA said that while the investigation was under way, Boeing employees would reinspect the Dreamliners that had not been delivered to airline customers yet, and the company would develop an “action plan” for the planes that are already in service, the newspaper said.
The FAA said Boeing “voluntarily informed us in April that it may not have completed required inspections to confirm adequate bonding and grounding where the wings join the fuselage on certain 787 Dreamliner airplanes.”
Boeing told NPR that it "promptly notified the FAA and this is not an immediate safety of flight issue” and that it's taking "swift and serious corrective action with multiple teammates."
The FAA had previously said it was toughening oversight of Boeing and the 787 Dreamliner after finding production flaws in the widebody airplane in 2022, NPR reports.
