Boeing whistleblower testifies he was ‘told effectively to shut up’

Today we heard strong criticism aimed directly at Boeing – from a “criminal cover-up” to “physical threats”.

Boeing, one of the world’s two major producers of commercial planes, has said the claims made by Sam Salehpour were “inaccurate” and that it was confident its planes were safe.

“The issues raised have been subject to rigorous engineering examination under [Federal Aviation Administration] oversight,” the company said last week.

Two days before the hearing in Washington DC, the aerospace firm hosted a few journalists at its 787 Dreamliner manufacturing complex in South Carolina, where they walked them through safety demonstrations.

There, Steve Chisholm, chief engineer for Boeing Mechanical and Structural Engineering, responded to the latest whistleblower allegations.

“We haven’t identified any safety issues,” the Seattle Times quoted him as saying.

“We have not seen anything in service related to [the gaps] that would indicate that there is an issue with the in-service fleet.”

According to the Associated Press, Boeing officials have also previously dismissed Salehpour’s claim that he saw workers jump on 777 fuselage parts to make them align, which we heard Salehpour testify about earlier.