Boeing is facing further setbacks as the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has launched an investigation into the aircraft manufacturer. The investigation aims to determine whether Boeing conducted the necessary inspections on its 787 “Dreamliner” aircraft and whether employees falsified documents. Specifically, the investigation is looking into whether Boeing correctly carried out mandatory inspections related to the junction of the wings to the fuselage on certain 787 Dreamliner aircraft.
Following this investigation, Boeing has announced that it will re-inspect all 787 aircraft still in production and develop a plan to care for the fleet in service. The 787 Dreamliner, along with the 737 MAX, has faced numerous production problems since 2023, leading to delays in deliveries and causing airlines to adjust their flight schedules for 2024.
In April, Boeing informed the FAA that it may not have performed required inspections. As a result of this revelation, Scott Stocker, head of the 787 program at Boeing, sent an email to employees in South Carolina, where the planes are manufactured, informing them of irregularities in a conformity test required at the wing body junction. He revealed that several individuals had violated company policies by not performing a required test but recording the work as completed. Despite this, the team of engineers assessed that the fault did not pose an immediate flight safety problem.
Boeing has been dealing with a series of quality and safety issues on its planes for over a year following crashes in 2018 and 2019. Recent incidents include a door stopper falling off an Alaska Airlines plane and whistleblowers raising concerns about production problems on the Boeing 737 MAX, 787 Dreamliner, and 7