FAA investigating whether Boeing SC employees 'falsified inspection records'

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NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) - Investigators with the Federal Aviation Administration are looking into whether Boeing employees failed to perform some quality inspections on its 787 jets, the FAA confirmed on Monday.

The 787 planes are built at Boeing South Carolina, located in North Charleston.

Live 5 News obtained a copy of the internal memo from Scott Stocker, who leads the 787 program, which was sent to Boeing South Carolina employees last week. He acknowledged a violation of policies by several people who had not performed a written test but recorded the work as having been completed.

Stocker applauded a teammate who saw something in the factory that he believed was not being done right and spoke up about it.

"We will use this moment to celebrate him, and to remind us all about the kind of behavior we will and will not accept as a team," Stocker stated in the email.

"The teammate saw what appeared to be an irregularity in a required conformance test in wing body join," Stocker said. "He raised it with his manager, who brought it to the attention of executive leadership. I wanted to personally thank and commend that teammate for doing the right thing. It's critical that every one of us speak up when we see something that may not look right, or that needs attention."

Stocker stated that Boeing has zero tolerance for not following processes designed to ensure quality and safety.

He added the regulator was informed and Boeing South Carolina is taking "swift and serious corrective action with multiple teammates."

Stocker added that the engineering team has assessed this misconduct did not create an immediate safety of flight issue, however, it is going to impact Boeing's customers and factory teammates because the test now needs to be conducted out of sequence on airplanes in the build process.

The FAA released the following statement on the investigation:

The FAA has opened an investigation into Boeing after the company voluntarily informed us in April that it may not have completed required inspections to confirm adequate bonding and grounding where the wings join the fuselage on certain 787 Dreamliner airplanes.

The FAA is investigating whether Boeing completed the inspections and whether company employees may have falsified aircraft records. At the same time, Boeing is reinspecting all 787 airplanes still within the production system and must also create a plan to address the in-service fleet.

As the investigation continues, the FAA will take any necessary action - as always - to ensure the safety of the flying public.

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