Boeing whistleblower tips to FAA soar 11x since door panel blowout
Boeing Co. whistleblower reports in the first five months of this year compared to all of 2023, according to data the agency shared with Bloomberg News. From Jan. 5 through May, 126 tips were reported to the regulator, compared to 11 in all of 2023, the FAA said in a statement Friday.
Want a Loan? Get cash against your Mutual Funds in 4 hoursThat surge indicates the intense scrutiny faced by Boeing, internally and externally, after a fuselage panel blew off a 737 Max jetliner during an Alaska Airlines flight in January. US investigators have said the piece was missing four bolts meant to secure it in place, a revelation that helped to unearth a series of manufacturing and quality lapses at the company.
FAA Administrator Michael Whitaker said during a Senate hearing on Thursday that the FAA had “multiple active investigations” into the aircraft manufacturer, coinciding with a rise in reports coming from whistleblowers and through the agency’s safety hotline.
After the hearing, he told reporters that can be a sign of an improving safety culture. “You expect to see an increase in reports when you have a safe place for employees to report, so that’s what we want to see,” Whitaker said, adding that he’d be a little worried if the agency hadn’t seen an increase in numbers.
The FAA said in its statement on Friday that during a visit to Boeing’s factory in Renton, Washington, over the winter, Whitaker asked Boeing Chief Executive Officer Dave Calhoun to share the FAA hotline information with all Boeing employees, and
