Boeing supplier ‘regularly shipped defective aircraft fuselages’

A whistleblower has claimed one of Boeing’s largest suppliers regularly allowed aircraft fuselages to leave its factory with up to 200 defects.

Santiago Paredes, who worked for Spirit AeroSystems in Kansas between 2010 and 2022, told the BBC he often found defects on parts being prepared for shipping to Boeing.

Mr Paredes even earned the nickname “showstopper” from colleagues for slowing down production when he raised concerns, he claimed.

Before he departed from the company, he led a team of inspectors based at the end of the production line for Boeing’s 737 Max planes.

Mr Paredes told the BBC he was accustomed to finding “anywhere from 50 to 100, 200” defects on fuselages – the main body of the plane – bound for Boeing.

“I was finding a lot of missing fasteners, a lot of bent parts, sometimes even missing parts,” he said.

Spirit said it “strongly disagree[d]” with the allegations. A spokesman said: “We are vigorously defending against his claims.”

Boeing declined to comment to the BBC on Mr Paredes’s claims.

‘Just focused on meeting quotas’

Spirit was once part of Boeing and remains the US aircraft maker’s primary supplier.

It builds the fuselage for the 737 Max aircraft at its factory in Wichita, Kansas, and also makes large parts of the 787 Dreamliner.

Mr Paredes claimed he was put under pressure at Spirit to be less rigorous in his quality control inspections.

He told the BBC: “They just wanted the product shipped out.

“They weren’t focused on the consequences of shipping bad fuselages. They were just focused on meeting the quotas, meeting the schedule, meeting the budget … If the numbers looked good, the state of the fuselages didn’t really matter.”

Mr Paredes’s claims form part of his testimony in legal action that angry shareholders have brought against Spirit.

Whistleblower and former Spirit employee, Josh Dean, whose claims were also part of the lawsuit, died last week from a serious bacterial infection.

Mr Dean had been represented by the same legal team as fellow whistleblower and former Boeing employee John Barnett, who died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound in March.

The supplier, along with Boeing, has been in the spotlight since a door panel was blown out of a Boeing 737 Max during an Alaska Airlines flight, forcing the aircraft into an emergency landing.

According to investigators, the door had originally been fitted by Spirit.

Last month, another whistleblower made quality control allegations about Boeing’s 787 and 777 planes.

Boeing engineer Sam Salehpour claimed his employer took shortcuts while making the 787 which compromised its safety. He also raised issues about the production of the 777, a similar type of jet.

The American regulator, the Federal Aviation Administration, is investigating the allegations.

In response to Mr Salehpour’s claims, Boeing insisted its 787 and 777 models were safe.

In a statement last month, Boeing said: “We are fully confident in the 787 Dreamliner because of the comprehensive work done to ensure the quality and long-term safety of the aircraft.

“These claims about the structural integrity of the 787 are inaccurate.”

Boeing planes have experienced other difficulties in recent months.

At least 50 people were hurt when a Boeing 787, operated by LATAM Airlines, abruptly lost altitude mid-flight from Sydney to Auckland in March.

On Wednesday, a Boeing 767 belonging to FedEx Express was forced to make an emergency landing at Istanbul Airport after its front landing gear failed.

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