FAA is investigating whether Boeing performed required inspections on 787 Dreamliner jets

The Federal Aviation Administration has opened an investigation into Boeing after learning that the company may have failed to perform required inspections on 787 Dreamliner jets.

Boeing voluntarily told the FAA in April that it may be conducting incomplete inspections to “confirm adequate bonding and grounding at the junction of the wings with the fuselage of certain 787 Dreamliner aircraft,” an FAA statement said.

“The FAA is investigating whether Boeing completed inspections and whether company employees may have falsified aircraft records. At the same time, Boeing is re-examining all 787 aircraft still in the production system and must also develop a plan to remediate the in-service fleet,” it said.

The FAA added that it will take all necessary measures to ensure the safety of the public.

A Boeing representative declined to comment Monday but referred to an email last week from Scott Stocker, the head of the Boeing 787 program, to Boeing employees in South Carolina.

Stocker said in the April 29 email that a “teammate” saw something at a factory that he believed was not done correctly and spoke out about it.

“During a required compliance test, the teammate saw what appeared to be an irregularity at the wing body joint. He brought it up to his supervisor, who brought it to the attention of management,” Stocker said. “I wanted to personally thank this teammate and commend him for doing the right thing. It is important that each of us speak up when we see something that may not look right or requires attention.”

Boeing learned that several people had violated company policy by failing to perform a required test “but instead logging the work as completed,” Stocker said.

He added: “We immediately informed our regulator of our findings and, together with several teammates, are taking rapid and serious corrective action.” Fortunately, our technical team has concluded that this misconduct did not pose an immediate aviation safety issue. But it will have an impact on our customers and factory employees as testing will now have to be performed out of sequence on aircraft during the build process.”

Last month it was reported that a whistleblower claimed Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner planes had structural defects that could eventually cause them to break apart.

The FAA is investigating claims by Boeing engineer Sam Salehpour, The New York Times reported.

In a lengthy response, Boeing strongly denied the claims and said it was “completely confident” about the 787.

Since a door panel on an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 Max 9 plane broke in January, Boeing has been dealing with a number of negative stories. The FBI informed passengers in March that they may have been victims of a crime the FBI was investigating.

That same month, Boeing announced that three senior executives, including the CEO, were resigning.