波音公司的安全文化在周三的美国参议院听证会上受到审查，在阿拉斯加航空公司出事后，一名波音举报者就该公司的生产方法作证门塞爆裂.
波音工程师萨姆·萨勒普尔本月早些时候首次发声是在参议院国土安全委员会作证的四名证人之一政府事务常设调查小组委员会。
“我分析了波音自己的数据，得出结论认为该公司在787项目上走了制造捷径，这可能会大大降低飞机的安全性和生命周期，”Salehpour作证说。
Salehpour声称，自2013年以来，787项目一直存在严重问题，并将这些问题描述为787“机身组装方面的差距”。Salehpour说，波音公司用“过度的力量”将机身碎片推在一起，使机身上的缝隙看起来不存在。Salehpour说，98.7%的情况下，应该有垫片的间隙没有垫片。
“我真的看到人们跳到飞机的碎片上让它们对齐，”Salehpour谈到777生产线时说。“我称之为泰山效应。“
Salehpour声称他被边缘化并被告知“闭嘴”，他的老板告诉他，他会“杀了一个说Salehpour话的人”。
美国联邦航空管理局正在调查Salehpour关于787和777生产的声明。
波音公司驳斥了Salehpour关于飞机结构缺陷的说法，并表示对两种飞机的安全性“完全有信心”。
波音公司周三在听证会前的一份声明中表示:“在13年的服务中，全球787机队在420多万次航班上安全运送了超过8.5亿名乘客。“波音787至少可以安全运行30年，然后才需要扩大机体维护程序。迄今为止，对近700架在役飞机进行了广泛而严格的机身测试和严格的维护检查，没有发现机体疲劳的迹象。在联邦航空局的监督下，我们对飞机进行了精心检查和返工，并提高了生产质量，以达到以百分之一英寸为单位的严格标准。”
波音公司补充说，777机队已经“在全球安全运送了超过39亿乘客”，“仍然是航空史上最成功的宽体飞机家族”。
听证会后，该公司表示“波音公司严格禁止报复行为。”
1月5日，阿拉斯加航空公司的一架航班因舱门塞爆炸而受到严格审查。美国国家运输安全委员会的调查人员发现这架737 Max飞机缺少四个螺栓安装门的时间。
波音公司还没有移交记录门塞工作的记录，NTSB主席詹妮弗·霍门迪讲述参议院商务委员会上个月表示，波音公司通知他们无法找到记录。
航空安全基金会执行董事、前波音公司经理埃德·皮尔森(Ed Pierson)在周三的参议院听证会上作证说，一名举报者向他提供了这些记录，然后他将这些记录交给了美国联邦调查局。
“我不会掩饰这一点。这是一种犯罪掩盖行为，”皮尔森说。“事实上，记录是存在的。我知道这一点，因为我亲自把它们交给了美国联邦调查局。”
皮尔森说，这些记录已经存在“数月”他没有公开出示这些文件。
美国联邦调查局西雅图发言人拒绝就皮尔森声称他将波音记录交给美国联邦调查局一事向ABC新闻发表评论。
波音公司向美国广播公司新闻频道(ABC News)提到了霍曼迪在4月10日参议院听证会上的评论，她称缺乏记录是“逃避正常程序”，并表示波音公司已经向NTSB提供了“我们要求的所有现有文件，他们知道这一记录并不存在。他们同样关心这里的过程和越狱。我们都在一起工作，以找出发生了什么来纠正这种情况以及其他任何进展。”
针对皮尔森的证词，NTSB在一份声明中表示，在4月10日的听证会上，霍门迪“重申，波音公司向NTSB表示，它没有文件详细说明1月5日阿拉斯加航空公司1282航班客机爆炸的门塞的打开、关闭和固定工作。”
“NTSB没有从波音公司或任何其他实体收到任何此类文件，”声明继续说。
皮尔森已经六年没有在波音公司工作了，他周三还就波音公司的安全文化作证，告诉参议员们，“导致两起737 Max灾难的制造条件也导致了阿拉斯加井喷事故，这些条件仍在继续。”
这猛撞两架波音737 Max喷气式飞机-2018年狮航610航班和2019年埃塞俄比亚航空302航班-造成346人死亡。研究者找到两起事故都与飞行控制系统有缺陷有关。在2020年12月获准重新飞行之前，Max停飞了20个月。
“得知波音公司目前的生产质量问题，全世界都感到震惊。皮尔森说:“我并不感到惊讶，因为两次撞车后什么都没有改变。“政府当局忽视了波音的制造问题，直到阿拉斯加事故发生。乘客不应该依赖告密者来提供真相。”
航空安全基金会的航空工程师和技术顾问、前联邦航空局工程师乔·雅各布森(Joe Jacobsen)作证说，自737 Max于2020年重新投入使用以来，“我们有一长串制造缺陷的不安全条件。我们还有一个长长的设计缺陷清单。所以这告诉我，这是一个全公司的问题。”
俄亥俄州立大学综合系统工程专业实践助理教授Shawn Pruchnicki表示，波音公司的问题，包括两起Max坠机事件，“百分之百与钱有关”。
“这让我想知道，我们在波音公司是不是倒退了?阿拉斯加航空事件有力地证明了这一点，”他说。
调查常设小组委员会主席、康涅狄格州参议员理查德·布卢门撒尔(Richard Blumenthal)称证词“令人震惊”。
“有越来越多的严重指控称，波音公司有一个破碎的安全文化和一套不可接受的做法，”他说。
Blumenthal在听证会结束时表示，该记录将开放15天，供提交任何问题或文件。
“我们希望会有其他人站出来，”他说。
这位参议员还表示，他们希望与司法部联系，“以表明我们有兴趣与他们合作，”作为该机构也调查波音公司.
听证会持续了90多分钟，因为参议员们说他们很难弹劾程序针对国土安全部部长亚历杭德罗·马约卡斯。
听证会后，波音公司表示，自2020年以来，它已“采取重要措施，培养安全文化，赋予所有员工权力，鼓励他们提高自己的声音。”
“我们知道我们有更多的工作要做，我们正在整个公司采取行动，”波音公司表示。“自2024年1月以来，与2023年相比，通过我们的‘畅所欲言’门户网站提交的员工报告增加了500%以上，这表明朝着不怕报复的强大报告文化迈进了一步。”
“我们继续把安全和质量放在首位，并与我们的监管机构、客户和其他利益相关者透明地分享信息，”声明说。
听证会举行的两天前，波音公司对其位于南卡罗来纳州北查尔斯顿的工厂进行了新闻参观，在此期间，波音公司展示了Salehpour提出指控后的工程流程。
该公司表示，它对787梦想飞机进行了广泛的疲劳测试，测试进行了165，000个飞行周期，并表示这是“任何商业飞机有史以来最长的疲劳测试”波音公司表示，测试花了五年时间完成，在测试结束时，没有发现787的复合材料结构出现疲劳。
波音商用飞机公司负责飞机项目的工程副总裁Lisa Fahl也告诉记者，他们鼓励员工畅所欲言。
“我们正在不断改进，以确保我们队友的意见和问题得到回答，”法尔说。我们听取他们的意见，我们创建流程，我们在前进的过程中继续发展这一流程，欢迎反馈，鼓励反馈，希望我们的团队提供反馈，这就是我们如何让自己变得更好，这是安全管理系统和航空航天安全的基础，是人们的心声。"
Boeing safety culture under scrutiny during Senate committee hearing
Boeing's safety culture came under scrutiny during a U.S. Senate hearing on Wednesday, where a Boeing whistleblower was among those who testified about the company's production methods in the wake of the Alaska Airlinesdoor plug blowout.
Boeing engineer Sam Salehpour, whofirst spoke out earlier this monthon the company's production of the 787 and 777 jets, was among four witnesses who testified in front of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security& Governmental Affairs' Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations.
"I have analyzed Boeing's own data to conclude that the company is taking manufacturing shortcuts on the 787 program that may significantly reduce the airplane safety and the lifecycle," Salehpour testified.
Salehpour claimed that since 2013, there have been serious issues in the 787 program, describing those issues as "gaps in its assembly of the fuselage" of the 787. Salehpour said Boeing pushed pieces of the fuselage together with "excessive force" to make it seem like the gaps in the fuselage didn't exist. Salehpour said that 98.7% of the time, the gaps that were supposed to have shims did not have shims.
"I literally saw people jumping on the pieces of the airplane to get them to align," said Salehpour about the 777 production line. "I call it the Tarzan effect."
Salehpour claimed he was sidelined and told to "shut up" and that his boss told him that he would have "killed someone" who said what Salehpour said.
The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating Salehpour's claims regarding the 787 and 777 production.
Boeing has refuted Salehpour's claims regarding the structural flaws of the jets and said it is "fully confident" in the safety of both.
"In 13 years of service, the global 787 fleet has safely transported more than 850 million passengers on more than 4.2 million flights," Boeing said in a statement Wednesday prior to the hearing. "A 787 can safely operate for at least 30 years before needing expanded airframe maintenance routines. Extensive and rigorous testing of the fuselage and heavy maintenance checks of nearly 700 in-service airplanes to date have found zero evidence of airframe fatigue. Under FAA oversight, we have painstakingly inspected and reworked airplanes and improved production quality to meet exacting standards that are measured in the one hundredths of an inch."
The 777 fleet has "safely flown more than 3.9 billion passengers around the world" and "remains the most successful widebody airplane family in aviation history," Boeing added.
Following the hearing, the company said "retaliation is strictly prohibited at Boeing."
Boeing has come under intense scrutiny after a door plug blew out of an Alaska Airlines flight on Jan. 5. Investigators with the National Transportation Safety Board found that the plane, a 737 Max, wasmissing four boltswhen the door was installed.
Boeing has not turned over records documenting the work on the door plug, NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendytoldthe Senate Commerce Committee last month, saying that Boeing informed them that they are unable to find the records.
Ed Pierson, executive director of the Foundation for Aviation Safety and a former Boeing manager, testified during Wednesday's Senate hearing that a whistleblower provided him with the records, and that he then turned them over to the FBI.
"I'm not going to sugarcoat this. This is a criminal cover-up," Pierson said. "Records do, in fact, exist. I know this because I personally passed them to the FBI."
Pierson said the records have been available "for months." He has not publicly produced the documents.
An FBI Seattle spokesperson declined to comment to ABC News on Pierson's claim that he turned Boeing records over to the FBI.
Boeing referred ABC News to Homendy's comments at the Senate hearing on April 10, in which she characterized the lack of records as an "escape from normal process" and said that Boeing has provided the NTSB with "all the documents that we've asked for that exist, they are aware that this record does not exist. They are equally concerned about the process here and the escape. And we are all working together to figure out what happened to rectify the situation and anything else going forward.”
In response to Pierson's testimony, the NTSB said in a statement that during the hearing on April 10, Homendy "reiterated that Boeing indicated to the NTSB that it did not have documentation detailing the work on the opening, closing, and securing of the door plug that blew out during a January 5 passenger flight operated as Alaska Airlines flight 1282."
"The NTSB has not received any such documentation from Boeing or any other entity," the statement continued.
Pierson, who has not worked at Boeing in six years, also testified Wednesday on the safety culture at Boeing, telling senators, "The manufacturing conditions that led to the two 737 Max disasters also led to the Alaskan blowout accident, and these conditions continue."
Thecrashesof two Boeing 737 Max jets -- Lion Air Flight 610 in 2018, and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 in 2019 -- killed 346 people. Investigatorsfoundthat both crashes involved a flawed flight control system. The Max was grounded for 20 months before being cleared to fly again in December 2020.
"The world is shocked to learn about Boeing's current production quality issues. I'm not surprised because nothing changed after the two crashes," Pierson said. "Government authorities ignored Boeing's manufacturing problems until the Alaska accident. Passengers shouldn't have to rely on whistleblowers to provide the truth."
Joe Jacobsen, an aerospace engineer and technical adviser to the Foundation for Aviation Safety and former FAA engineer, testified that since the 737 Max went back into service in 2020, "we have a long list of unsafe conditions for manufacturing defects. We also have a long list, equally long list of design defects. So what that tells me is it's a company-wide problem."
Shawn Pruchnicki, professional practice assistant professor of integrated systems engineering at Ohio State University, said that Boeing's issues, including the two Max crashes, were "100% about money."
"It leads me to wonder, have we even gone backwards at Boeing? The Alaska Airlines event strongly supports that," he said.
Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., the chairman of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, called the testimony "shocking."
"There are mounting serious allegations that Boeing has a broken safety culture and a set of practices that are unacceptable," he said.
Blumenthal said at the conclusion of the hearing that the record will remain open for 15 days for any questions or documents to be submitted.
"We hope that there will be others who will come forward," he said.
The senator also said they hope to be in touch with the Department of Justice "to indicate our interest in cooperating with them," as the agencyalso investigates Boeing.
The hearing lasted just over 90 minutes, as senators said they had a hard out forimpeachment proceedingsagainst Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
Following the hearing, Boeing said that since 2020, it has "taken important steps to foster a safety culture that empowers and encourages all employees to raise their voice."
"We know we have more work to do and we are taking action across our company," Boeing said. "Since January 2024, there has been a more than 500% increase in employee reports through our 'Speak Up' portal compared to 2023, which signals progress toward a robust reporting culture that is not fearful of retaliation."
"We continue to put safety and quality above all else and share information transparently with our regulator, customers and other stakeholders," the statement said.
The hearing comes two days after Boeing held a press tour of its factory in North Charleston, South Carolina, during which it laid out its engineering process following allegations from Salehpour.
The company said it ran extensive fatigue testing on the 787 Dreamliner, running the test to 165,000 flight cycles and saying it was "the longest fatigue test of any commercial airplane that's ever been run." Boeing said the testing took five years to complete and at the end of the testing, there were no findings of fatigue in the 787's composite structure.
Lisa Fahl, the vice president of engineering for airplane programs at Boeing Commercial Airplanes, also told reporters they encourage employees to speak out.
"We're on a continuous improvement journey on ensuring that our teammates' opinions and questions get answered," Fahl said. "We hear from them, we create processes, we continue to evolve on this process as we go forward and just welcome the feedback and encourage it and want it from our team, that's how we make us better, that's the foundation of the Safety Management System and aerospace safety in general, is people speaking up."
