Congress Summons Boeing CEO amid Whistleblower Claims on 787, 777

Departing Boeing CEO David Calhoun has been summoned to testify before a Senate subcommittee about the embattled company’s jetliners amid fresh safety-related allegations from a whistleblower.

Attorneys for the whistleblower, Sam Salehpour, accuse the company of putting profit over safety — and retaliating against him after he raised concerns by “involuntarily” transferring him to the 777 program, AFP reports.

The panel said it will hold a hearing next week featuring Calhoun, who is set to exit as chief executive at the end of 2024, to address safety concerns involving the manufacture and assembly of the 787 Dreamliner.

The subcommittee said in a letter that those problems could create “potentially catastrophic safety risks.”

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) confirmed the investigation after the claims were outlined in a New York Times article describing charges from Salehpour, who has been at Boeing more than 10 years.

“Rather than heeding his warnings, Boeing prioritized getting the planes to market as quickly as possible, despite the known, well-substantiated issues Mr. Salehpour raised,” said attorneys Debra Katz and Lisa Banks, who pointed to “critical defects” on nearly 1,500 Boeing planes.

Boeing, which has been under scrutiny following a slew of safety problems, released a detailed defense of the aircraft, saying it is “fully confident” in the Dreamliner and denying charges it retaliated against the worker.

The whistleblower allegation comes on the heels of a January Alaska Airlines 737 MAX 9 flight that made an emergency landing after a fuselage panel blew out mid-flight.

In the wake of that incident, the FAA has frozen Boeing’s MAX production output, while insisting the plane maker demonstrate improvement in operations and quality control.

Earlier Tuesday, Boeing reported sharply lower first-quarter plane deliveries. Company officials have pointed to production halts as part of enhanced safety actions following the January Alaska Airlines incident.

Both the 787 and the 737 Max have been plagued by production defects that have sporadically held up deliveries and left airlines short of planes during busy travel seasons.

Calhoun announced in March he will retire at the end of the year, as Breitbart News reported.

His departure comes amid the single biggest safety crisis for Boeing since crashes of two of its Max 8 jets in 2018 and 2019.

In the first quarter, Boeing delivered 83 commercial jets, down 36 percent from the year-ago period.

Shares of Boeing fell 1.9 percent on Tuesday following news of the Senate call to Calhoun.

AP, AFP contributed to this story

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