FAA Opens New Boeing Inquiry Over 787 Inspections

Federal air-safety regulators have opened a new investigation into Boeing after the jet maker recently disclosed that its employees may have skipped some inspections on 787 Dreamliners and falsified records, the latest quality issue at the manufacturer.

The Federal Aviation Administration said the plane maker notified the agency in April that it may not have completed required inspections related to the electrical safeguards of bonding and grounding where wings join the fuselage on certain aircraft.

The FAA said it was investigating “whether Boeing completed the inspections and whether company employees may have falsified aircraft records.” The agency has been scrutinizing Boeing’s production since the Jan. 5 midair blowout of a door plug on a 737 MAX jet flown by Alaska Airlines.

It wasn’t immediately clear whether any 787 Dreamliners currently flying passengers around the world would need to be pulled out of service for inspections. The agency said Boeing was reinspecting all 787s in production and must formulate a plan to address the in-service Dreamliner fleet.

Hundreds of Dreamliners could be affected, according to a person familiar with the investigation. Boeing said in a securities filing it had delivered 1,110 of the aircraft as of last year.

Boeing shares closed 0.8% lower Monday, falling after The Wall Street Journal reported the new FAA investigation. Broader U.S. stock indexes settled around 1% higher.

Boeing’s 787 program chief, Scott Stocker, in an April 29 internal message, said the company found no immediate problem for Dreamliners currently flying.

“Fortunately, our engineering team has assessed that this misconduct did not create an immediate safety of flight issue,” Stocker said in the message, which a Boeing spokeswoman provided to the Journal.

Stocker said the issue arose from an internal reporting system for employees to report problems. He said Boeing quickly reported the problem to the FAA.

“We quickly reviewed the matter and learned that several people had been violating company policies by not performing a required test, but recording the work as having been completed,” Stocker said. “As you all know, we have zero tolerance for not following processes designed to ensure quality and safety.”

Stocker said Boeing took “swift and serious corrective action with multiple teammates.” The company spokeswoman declined to elaborate.

Boeing has recently slowed production of the 787 in part because of supplier issues. The plane maker has also said it would curtail the practice known as traveled work, or allowing unfinished work to flow through its factory.

Various whistleblowers have come forward in the months following Alaska 737 MAX blowout, adding to scrutiny of Boeing. Complaints about alleged retaliation for speaking up about potential safety issues have drawn attention from Senate investigators as two committees conduct investigations into Boeing production.

Boeing has defended the safety of the 787 and pushed back against certain whistleblower claims, arguing that they aren’t accurate.

Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board and Justice Department are also probing the Alaska blowout and issues related to Boeing’s safety culture.

Write to Andrew Tangel at [email protected]