Posted on 06/27/2024 10:52:45 AM PDT by Red Badger
An aircraft mechanic who was contracted to repair Boeing planes has alleged he was labelled a "snitch" and then sacked for speaking up over safety concerns. Richard Cuevas claimed he witnessed substandard manufacturing and maintenance work on a crucial section of Boeing 787 aircraft. Boeing, which has been dogged by questions over whether its safety culture is rigorous enough, said the issues had been investigated and "did not present a safety concern". Lawyers representing Mr Cuevas alleged he reported critical issues that could create a serious public safety risk and has filed complaints with the Federal Aviation Administration and the Occupational Health and Safety Administration. Mr Cuevas, who has worked in the aviation industry for 40 years, was contracted to Spirit Aerosystems, to work on Boeing's 787 forward pressure bulkhead, a dome at the nose of the aircraft which serves as a barrier. “He recognised the substandard work and expressed concern," Mr Cuevas' lawyers said. "But Spirit and Boeing failed to stop the faulty manufacturing processes." According to the legal filings a colleague then remarked: “We’ve got a snitch among us.” Mr Cuevas said he was sacked by Spirit Aerosystems in March 2024. Boeing told the BBC: “A subcontractor’s employee previously reported concerns to us that we thoroughly investigated, as we take seriously any safety-related matter." However, the issues raised were found not to present a safety concern and had been addressed, Boeing said. Spirit Aerosystems spokesperson Joe Buccino, said the firm was "looking into the matter".
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.com ...
Looks like another case of “We investigated ourselves, and found we did nothing wrong.”
When society is in the hands of second raters.
Customer safety vs. DEI and customer safety loses.
A “safety culture” and a “diversity culture” cannot co-exist.
Being the best is raciss.
Looks like the same thing happened to Boeing.
A lot of Boeing threads here have had people defending Boeing. The problem is not the design, you see. The problem is not the manufacturing, you see. Boeing is blameless, you see.
The REAL problem, some have said, is just poor maintenance by staff at airports.
Here we see what “poor maintenance” looks like — it looks like a mechanic jumping up and down telling people about problems until he gets silenced by the Big Dogs.
My brother works in a small manufacturing company that makes fire-protection equipment.
They have a safety and quality review team of 4 people from different parts of company - if a worker or manager has a concern, complaint, or suggestion for process improvement, they simply notify the group.
they are conscious of time-wasting meetings, so they have a quick review of the issue (5 minutes or less) to get other eyes on the issue, and decide if its a real issue, or not. They make a very short record of the event. If worker feels its not addressed, they can escalate the issue.
If its a process improvement that saves $$, whoever brought the idea gets a bonus of up to $10K.
In this way, everyone can be a “whistleblower” and no one can claim ignorance if a problem occurs. He said it becomes clear very quickly if someone is merely ignorant of some detail, is complaining just to complain, vs. who is serious.
Maybe that wouldn’t work for a huge company with a complex product like Boeing.
Jackass.
There is a difference between a plane that is one or maybe two years old(787 max) and a plane that is over 15 years old and has how many thousands of hours on its frame. You know damn well AA or Delta have their own mechanics to service their assets. 787 max are probably under some form of warranty or extended service from Boeing.
in this instance, Boeing terminated an employee over their concerns of airplane integrity and shoddy assembly.
this is 100% Boeings fault.
but a tire exploding on a 20 year old plane is Boeings fault how? because it’s a 767?
Use your damn brain and stop being a snarky asshat.
There is a obvious line between the problems and you are trying to be snarky blurring the two. the 787 Max is a disaster that should put Boeing out of operations. Their older models are clearly still very safe when maintained correctly.
this is 100% Boeings fault.
but a tire exploding on a 20 year old plane is Boeings fault how? because it’s a 767?
Well, maybe -- and, yes, I'm speculating -- maybe some mechanic noticed that a 20-year-old plane had an old tire that looked likely to explode. Maybe the mechanic flagged that issue. Maybe the mechanic was terminated.
Because, you know, Boeing does that sort of thing.
Any company developing safety critical systems should have a culture of encouraging the reporting of potential hazards.
This clearly doesn’t seem to be the case at Boeing. This is at the management level. Some of design decisions would never have been made by engineers left to their own devices. It seems mechanics and technicians are punished for speaking out.
>>>>This is at the management level.<<<<
When bean-counters replaced engineers as upper, mid-level and lower management, Boeing was doomed.................
North America and Europe.
Fatal Boeing plane accidents:
Feb 2019 - 3 dead - Boeing Cargo 767 - Pilot error - first and only Cargo 767 crash
April 2018 - 1 dead - Boeing 737-700 - Engine explosion - Engine not manufactured by Boeing
July 2013 - 3 dead - San Francisco - Boeing 777 - Pilot error
September 2001 - all four hijacked aircraft were Boeing
October 1999 - 217 dead - 767 - Boston - Atlantic Ocean - Muslim pilot suicide
August 1997 - 229 dead - Guam - 747 - Pilot and ATC errors plus bad weather
July 1996 - 230 dead - New York - Atlantic Ocean - 747 - fuel tank explosion - many believe terrorist explosion
September 1994 - 132 dead - Pennsylvania - 737 - Rudder design error causes stall during approach
Bottom Line...
You have to go back 30 years to find an undisputed Boeing error that killed someone in North America or Europe.
I worked for Boeing for 32 years and know for a fact that it is very, very, very difficult to fire an employee. That is the reality. In fact, in 32 years, I am aware of only one person that I knew getting terminated. And he had been warned on several occasions that his unacceptable behavior had to change. His behavior did not change, so he was fired.
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