During a bruising Senate hearing on Tuesday, Boeing CEO David Calhoun defended the company’s safety record while members accused him of prioritizing profits over safety, failing to protect whistleblowers, and even receiving excessive pay.
Relatives of victims killed in two Boeing 737 Max plane tragedies were in the room, some holding photos of their loved ones to remind the CEO of the dangers. Calhoun began his speech by standing, turning to face the families, and apologizing “for the grief that we have caused,” pledging to prioritize safety.
Calhoun’s testimony before Congress was the first by a high-ranking Boeing official since a panel blew off a 737 Max on an Alaska Airlines flight in January. The event did not result in significant injuries but aroused new concerns about the company’s best-selling commercial aircraft.
The tone of the hearing before the Senate investigations subcommittee was established hours earlier when the panel released a 204-page report containing additional charges from a whistleblower who expressed concern that defective parts were being used in 737s. The whistleblower is the latest in a long line of current and former Boeing employees who have expressed concerns about the company’s manufacturing practices, which federal regulators are investigating.
Boeing CEO Defends His Safety Record, Spars With Senators And Apologizes To Crash Victims’ Relatives
“This hearing is a moment of reckoning,” subcommittee chairman Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., declared. “It’s about a company, a once iconic company, that somehow lost its way.”
Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., blamed Calhoun, claiming that the man who became CEO in January 2020 was too focused on the bottom line.
“You are cutting corners, you are eliminating safety procedures, you are sticking it to your employees, you are cutting back jobs because you are trying to squeeze very piece of profit you can out of this company,” Hawley stated in a higher tone. “You are strip-mining Boeing.”
Hawley repeatedly cited Calhoun’s $32.8 million salary from last year and questioned why the CEO had not resigned.
“Senator, I’m going to see this through. I’m proud to have taken this position. I’m pleased of our safety record, and I’m proud of our Boeing employees,” said Calhoun, who has announced his resignation by the end of the year.
Hawley interrupted. “You’re proud of the safety record?” he asked, perplexed.
“I am proud of every action we have taken,” Calhoun said.
Senators grilled Calhoun on allegations that Boeing managers penalized employees who raised safety concerns. They asked the CEO if he had ever spoken with any whistleblowers. He said he hadn’t but agreed it was a nice idea.
The latest whistleblower, Sam Mohawk, a quality assurance investigator at Boeing’s 737 assembly facility outside Seattle, told the subcommittee that “nonconforming” parts — those that could be defective or not properly documented — could end up in 737 Max aircraft.
Mohawk alleged that Boeing suppressed evidence after the Federal Aviation Administration informed the business that it planned to inspect the factory in June 2023.
“Once Boeing received such a notice, it ordered the majority of the (nonconforming) parts that were being stored outside to be moved to another location,” Mohawk stated in the report. “Approximately 80% of the parts were moved to avoid the watchful eyes of the FAA inspectors.”
Mohawk stated that the parts, which included rudders, wing flaps, and other components necessary for aircraft control, were later returned or lost.
A Boeing spokeswoman stated that the firm received the subcommittee report late Monday night and is evaluating the claims.
The FAA stated that it would “thoroughly investigate” the allegations. A spokeswoman stated that the government has received more reports of safety issues from Boeing personnel since the January 5 rupture on the Alaska Airlines Max.
The 737 Max has a troublesome history. After Max jets crashed in Indonesia in 2018 and Ethiopia in 2019, killing 346 people each, the FAA and other agencies grounded the aircraft for more than a year and a half. The Justice Department is considering prosecuting Boeing for breaking the terms of a 2021 settlement over charges that the corporation misled regulators who authorized the plane.
Mohawk told the Senate hearing that the quantity of problematic parts has increased dramatically since production of the Max resumed following the incidents. He claimed that the increase prompted superiors to instruct him and other employees to “cancel” documents indicating that the parts were unsuitable for plane installation.
Following the mid-air burst of a plug covering an emergency exit on an Alaska Airlines plane in January, the FAA temporarily grounded certain Max flights. The agency and the National Transportation Safety Board began separate investigations into Boeing, which are still ongoing.
Boeing CEO Defends His Safety Record, Spars With Senators And Apologizes To Crash Victims’ Relatives
Calhoun stated that Boeing has responded to the Alaska tragedy by reducing production, encouraging employees to raise safety problems, shutting down assembly lines daily to allow workers to discuss safety, and appointing a former Navy admiral to conduct a quality review. Late last month, Boeing delivered an improvement plan requested by the FAA.
Calhoun defended the company’s safety culture, admitting it “is far from perfect.”
The drumbeat of bad news for Boeing has continued throughout the last week. The FAA said it was looking into how falsely documented titanium parts ended up in Boeing’s supply chain; the company revealed that fasteners were incorrectly installed on the fuselages of some jets, and federal officials examined “substantial” damage to a Southwest Airlines 737 Max following an unusual mid-flight control issue.
During the hearing, Howard McKenzie, Boeing’s top engineer, stated that the problem with the Southwest airliner, which he did not describe in detail, was limited to that plane.
Blumenthal first requested Calhoun’s appearance before the Senate subcommittee when another whistleblower, a Boeing quality engineer, claimed that manufacturing flaws were posing safety hazards on two of Boeing’s largest jets, the 787 Dreamliner and the 777. He stated that the corporation needed to explain why the public should believe in Boeing’s work.
Boeing denied the whistleblower’s assertions, claiming that comprehensive testing and inspections revealed none of the issues the engineer had foreseen.
Boeing CEO Defends His Safety Record, Spars With Senators And Apologizes To Crash Victims’ Relatives
Last month, the Justice Department found that Boeing breached a 2021 settlement that protected the firm from fraud charges for allegedly deceiving regulators who approved the 737 Max. According to a senior department official, Boeing failed to implement steps to detect and prevent future infractions of anti-fraud rules.
Prosecutors have until July 7 to decide what they will do next. Blumenthal claimed that there is “mounting evidence” that the firm should be penalized.
Families of the victims of the Max crashes have frequently urged the Justice Department to punish the business and its leaders. They want a federal judge in Texas to overturn the 2021 deferred-prosecution agreement or DPA — effectively a plea deal — that allowed Boeing to escape prosecution for fraud in connection with the Max.
Catherine Berthet, whose daughter Camille perished in the second disaster, stated outside the Capitol on Tuesday that despite having three years to improve their safety process, they failed to do so. “Now they have to be made accountable.”
SOURCE – (AP)
