Whistleblower's Warnings Resurface after 787 Crash
The recent crash of an Air India Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner shortly after takeoff from Ahmedabad has brought a renewed and intense focus on the aircraft's manufacturing and safety record. The flight, AI171 bound for London, crashed into the city's Meghani Nagar area, resulting in the deaths of more than 200 of the 242 people on board. This incident, the first fatal accident involving a 787 since its commercial debut in 2011, is now under investigation by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). While there is no initial evidence connecting the crash to earlier safety warnings, the tragedy has amplified concerns previously raised by a Boeing whistleblower.
The Whistleblower's Allegations
In January 2024, approximately a year before the crash, Boeing engineer Sam Salehpour made public his serious concerns about the structural integrity of the 787 Dreamliner. In a formal complaint to the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and in media interviews, Salehpour alleged that Boeing had taken dangerous shortcuts during the aircraft's manufacturing process.
His central claim revolved around the improper fastening of the plane's fuselage sections. Salehpour stated that he had witnessed workers using excessive force, including physically jumping on aircraft parts, to make misaligned sections fit together. He warned that this practice could create unsafe gaps in the fuselage joints, leading to premature material fatigue and potentially causing the aircraft to break apart mid-flight after thousands of trips. He asserted that these shortcuts affected over 1,000 Dreamliners. Salehpour's concerns also extended to Boeing's 777 jets, where he claimed to have identified similar assembly issues after being transferred to that program, an act he alleged was retaliatory.
Boeing's Broader Safety Context
Salehpour's warnings did not emerge in a vacuum. They came at a time when Boeing was already under intense scrutiny for a series of safety lapses across its product lines. The company's 737 Max aircraft were grounded worldwide from March 2019 to December 2020 following two fatal crashes that killed 346 people, attributed to flaws in the plane's flight control system.
More recently, in January 2024, the 737 Max 9 fleet was temporarily grounded after a door plug blew out on an Alaska Airlines flight mid-air, further exposing persistent quality control problems at the company. These high-profile incidents, combined with claims from whistleblowers like Salehpour and the late John Barnett (who had raised concerns about Boeing's South Carolina plant), have fueled widespread distrust in the company's manufacturing practices. In response to these issues, Boeing has faced FAA restrictions on its production, a significant leadership overhaul, and a criminal investigation by the US Justice Department.
Investigation and Renewed Scrutiny
In response to Salehpour's 2024 complaint, the FAA launched an investigation into the 787's production processes, an inquiry that is still ongoing. At the time, Boeing denied the allegations, stating that extensive testing had shown no immediate safety risks and that any manufacturing changes would not impact the "durability or safe longevity of the airframe."
Following the recent Air India crash, Boeing issued a statement saying it was "in contact with Air India regarding Flight 171" and stood "ready to support them." While Indian authorities lead the investigation to determine the specific cause of the tragedy, the ghost of the whistleblower's prior warnings looms large. The incident has unavoidably reignited public and regulatory concern, placing the celebrated Dreamliner and its manufacturer, Boeing, under a powerful and unforgiving microscope. The findings of the DGCA's investigation will be critical in determining whether this tragic event was an isolated incident or a symptom of the deeper systemic issues that some, like Sam Salehpour, have been warning about for years.
