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Boeing Admits to Falsifying Inspection Records
Hotair ^ | 05/07/2024 | Jazz Shaw

Posted on 05/07/2024 8:28:01 PM PDT by SeekAndFind

I don't know if this will qualify as "the other shoe dropping" in Boeing's ongoing problems, but the news certainly doesn't sound great. The Federal Aviation Administration announced yesterday that they were opening an investigation into the company after Boeing reported that workers at its South Carolina production plant had falsified inspection records on some of its new 787 Dreamliner planes. The Dreamliner has already fallen behind its original production schedule and this sort of investigation isn't likely to help them catch up. Also, the inspection records in question sound rather important, so people will probably need to go back and run the tests again on their completed aircraft. The head of the 787 production line said that the company is taking “swift and serious corrective action with multiple teammates." (Associated Press)

The Federal Aviation Administration said Monday it has opened an investigation into Boeing after the beleaguered company reported that workers at a South Carolina plant falsified inspection records on certain 787 planes. Boeing said its engineers have determined that misconduct did not create “an immediate safety of flight issue.”

In an email to Boeing’s South Carolina employees on April 29, Scott Stocker, who leads the 787 program, said a worker observed an “irregularity” in a required test of the wing-to-body join and reported it to his manager.

“After receiving the report, we quickly reviewed the matter and learned that several people had been violating Company policies by not performing a required test, but recording the work as having been completed,” Stocker wrote.

The test records under discussion involved an inspection of the joint between the wing and the main body of the aircraft. I'm not an aviation design expert, but that sounds like a pretty critical component of the design since it literally holds the wings onto the plane. Based on the description Boeing provided, the inspection wasn't being done improperly. It wasn't being done at all. The people responsible for performing the test were apparently just skipping it and signing off saying that it was completed successfully.

This allegation is in keeping with the reports from the whistleblowers (both of whom are now dead) who claimed that Boeing prioritized getting the planes out the door as quickly as possible. Production speed was allegedly more important to them than safety. Boeing has continually denied those allegations, saying that the errors that have shown up are rare exceptions and that they encourage all of their workers to report potential safety issues and resolve them. It's a big company, so perhaps that's true in some places. But it doesn't match the stories coming from the whistleblowers.

We should probably at least give some credit to Boeing for reporting this issue to the FAA voluntarily before the information became public. Or, even worse, before a wing fell off of a plane. None of the planes have been pulled from service at this point, but the FAA is directing Boeing to immediately prepare a plan to conduct these inspections on planes that are already flying and to go back and run them again on the aircraft still working through the production process. As mentioned above, this will likely slow their delivery schedule further, but it's better than the alternative.

In other, possibly unrelated news, the families of the victims of two Boeing crashes in 2018 and 2019 have requested that the Department of Justice reopen an investigation into those incidents. There were allegations of possible criminal fraud involved. But those crashes were determined to have been caused by a fault in the planes' software systems that made them go into a dive unexpectedly in some circumstances. That problem has allegedly been resolved and we haven't seen any reports of the error recurring lately.

Boeing really needs to get all of this cleared up and put it behind them. If there are many more delays in the delivery of their planes, the major airlines will need to start scaling back the number of flights they offer (again). And the delays that passengers are facing at airports these days are already too long. But the safety issues must be addressed first.



TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: aviation; boeing; falsification; inspection
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1 posted on 05/07/2024 8:28:01 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
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To: SeekAndFind
The following is satire. I'm certain that Hillary von Pantsuitness would never be involved in anything nefarious.

I also believe that Joe Biden is one of the greatest thinkers and most articulate speakers of our time.


2 posted on 05/07/2024 8:36:28 PM PDT by SaveFerris (Luke 17:28 ... as it was in the Days of Lot; They did Eat, They Drank, They Bought, They Sold ......)
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To: SeekAndFind

On Sunday a girl who works at Boeing came to visit and said the morale at Boeing is horrible. And they’ve been over estimating the number of planes to complete each month by a ridiculous amount and then promising customers the planes would be available when there is only evidence that the goals are impossible. Of course this results in very unhappy customers who so far have little choice. So far.

The MBAs are destroying a great American company with their greed and arrogance.


3 posted on 05/07/2024 8:37:49 PM PDT by Aria
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To: Aria

The MBAs are destroying a great American company with their greed and arrogance.
———
Greed is the most destructive human emotion- it surpasses Fear. Put the two together like with Biden’s Great Covid vax hoax, ( greed by Pfizer- FEAR by the American public), and you destroy nations….

The Point? A Christian nation simply doesn’t fall for these tools of Satan- yes America, I am talking to you. Time to get back to God and his word- it made ( past tense) our country great.


4 posted on 05/07/2024 9:03:17 PM PDT by delta7
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To: SeekAndFind

Boeing built a space capsule, yay!
It’s built to the same standards as their aircraft...


5 posted on 05/07/2024 9:30:45 PM PDT by Darksheare (Those who support liberal "Republicans" summarily support every action by same. )
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To: SeekAndFind

Dave Calhoun should be voted out like yesterday by the board, and a statement made to the media through their legal department that Boeing will undergo an emergency internal audit to straighten things out, otherwise they are flying a once respected company into a mountain side.


6 posted on 05/07/2024 9:48:46 PM PDT by SpaceBar
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To: SeekAndFind

RE:....the inspection wasn’t being done improperly. It wasn’t being done at all. The people responsible for performing the test were apparently just skipping it and signing off saying that it was completed successfully.
////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

But people are supposed to give their lives over to the protection of the Boeing manufacturing workers, inspection crew, and pilots.🛫🛬🔥🚓🚓🚓🚓🚑🚒🚓

Sort of like trusting the court system and the US Government.

And almost forgot——an honest and fair election and ballot counting system. (Got through that without laughing).

Hope the Easter Bunny and Santa don’t disappoint such adults.
Life can be cruel if so.


7 posted on 05/07/2024 11:59:40 PM PDT by frank ballenger (There's a battle outside and it's raging. It'll soon shake your windows and rattle your walls.)
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To: SeekAndFind

Managers don’t like bad news. I found that out the hard way.


8 posted on 05/08/2024 12:10:03 AM PDT by Fresh Wind (Nothing says "Democracy" like throwing your opponents in jail.)
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To: SeekAndFind; rlmorel; spirited irish

“But the job got done.”

Like “affordable housing” without durable construction with sufficient space,

SPAM in cans.

The can LOOKS like an airplane or “living space.” “Job done.”


9 posted on 05/08/2024 12:12:17 AM PDT by linMcHlp
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To: SeekAndFind
Back in the early '90s, Lucas Aerospace was building gear boxes for jet engines, notably the F-14. Delivery targets were unreal, and QC started filling out inspection paperwork for inspections that weren't done, to streamline production.

F-14s started vanishing, mid-ocean. Without being able to do proper post crash investigations, the Navy didn't know what the problem was.

A 20 year old machinist was hired at the Park City, Utah plant, and assigned to QA, and he noticed that inspections weren't being performed, and yet they were documented. He went to the Salt Lake FBI, and the the sordid tale came out. Lucas was fined something like $20 million, banned from bidding on federal contracts for 5 years or so.

The kid got $2 million as a whistleblower's reward...

10 posted on 05/08/2024 12:28:20 AM PDT by jonascord (First rule of the Dunning-Kruger Club is that you do not know you are in the Dunning-Kruger club.)
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To: delta7

The lockdown hoax moved fear to a new level. It was a republican that did that. And mail in ballots and blank checks to big pharma and big gov med.
Don’t worry though…. In Iowa Trump repeated stated he saved billions of lives worldwide with operation warp speed. No remorse, no doubt, no second thoughts.
You have to ask an honest question.. would you have locked down under Obama or Biden?? Honestly.. I don’t think so.
The Marxists need republicans to carry their water just like congress and the lockdown prez.
Republicans are even pro abortion, pro homosexual and pro grooming. What kind of mother would not sacrifice her life for her child???? What kind of man would marry a woman like that. Republican women are saying to their born children… hey if it would have been a choice between you or I… I would have murderes you in the womb.
First it’s abortion on demand, then it is Marxists from Harvard med deciding to euthanize you.
I worked in a hospital during Covid…. I heard many conversations from leadership to your mom’s sweet nurse saying if you didn’t get the vax you should be denied care and left to die. I heard those conversations until this year. An election year.


11 posted on 05/08/2024 1:43:36 AM PDT by momincombatboots (BQEphesians 6... who you are really at war with.)
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To: Aria

MBAs aren’t ruining Boeing. The company’s fascist leadership is. They decided a long time ago that buying government officials (they’ve owned globalist misfits like Lindsey Graham and Nikki Haley for years) is a better business strategy than making quality aircraft.


12 posted on 05/08/2024 3:14:56 AM PDT by Alberta's Child (If something in government doesn’t make sense, you can be sure it makes dollars.)
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To: SeekAndFind
This is really bad.

Not sure how is this even possible

13 posted on 05/08/2024 3:15:42 AM PDT by rdcbn1
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To: Alberta's Child
MBAs aren't ruining Boeing. The company's fascist leadership is. They decided a long time ago that buying government officials (they've owned globalist misfits like Lindsey Graham and Nikki Haley for years) is a better business strategy than making quality aircraft.


Bingo!

Running an aircraft company like Boeing is very hard, buying politicians is very easy

14 posted on 05/08/2024 3:18:02 AM PDT by rdcbn1
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To: SeekAndFind

Jeeze!


15 posted on 05/08/2024 4:27:53 AM PDT by wetgundog
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To: SeekAndFind

Now it becomes clear!!!!!
This is the non union shop!!!!


16 posted on 05/08/2024 5:22:41 AM PDT by joe fonebone (And the people said NO! The End)
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To: SeekAndFind

Did anyone really believe that scapegoats would not appear at some point?


17 posted on 05/08/2024 5:26:23 AM PDT by Rlsau1
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To: SeekAndFind

THERE IT IS!!! I knew it. The only way these inspections can pass is either, the QA inspector lies and gives his stamp and signature to the report, OR someone forges the stamps and signatures. This reeks of DEI.


18 posted on 05/08/2024 10:40:07 AM PDT by Organic Panic (Democrats. Memories as short as Joe Biden's eyes.)
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To: SeekAndFind; 04-Bravo; 1FASTGLOCK45; 1stFreedom; 2ndDivisionVet; 2sheds; 60Gunner; 6AL-4V; ...

Aviation Ping!......................


19 posted on 05/08/2024 11:31:32 AM PDT by Red Badger (Homeless veterans camp in the streets while illegals are put up in 5 Star hotels....................)
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To: Organic Panic

DEI plus a hit squad to liquidate whistleblowers—they never taught that stuff in the MBA program years ago...


20 posted on 05/08/2024 11:40:50 AM PDT by cgbg ("Our democracy" = Their Kleptocracy)
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