Justice Probes Boeing Quality Allegation
Boeing is under investigation by the Justice Department and the Pentagon following an allegation that the company sacrificed quality and safety to fill a backlog of aircraft orders in the late 1980s and early 1990s, the Christian Science Monitor reported Wednesday.
The investigations, the newspaper said, were prompted by a sealed $10 billion lawsuit filed 19 months ago in a California federal court by Timothy Kerr, a former Boeing factory worker who documented incidents such as the installation of flawed cables and over-tightened bolts. He reportedly claims there were known shortcomings on both commercial and military aircraft.
The complaint mentions Boeing’s 747, 767 and 757 models of passenger jets, Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) military aircraft and the president’s two Air Force One 747s, the paper said.
The Monitor said Kerr alleges factory supervisors purposely over-looked substandard workmanship, encouraged inspectors to falsely certify tasks and did nothing about known sabotage attempts by union workers prior to a 1989 strike and as an expression of anti-Asian sentiment.
The revelation of the investigations, the status of which is unclear, comes after a week of bad news.
Boeing announced a $2.6 billion write-off, due in part to the slowing of production lines by a parts shortage, and a resulting $696 million third-quarter loss - at a time when orders are at record levels.
The company has more than doubled its jetliner production in a year. Under the strain, the Federal Aviation Administration and Boeing both recently said they are increasing assembly-line scrutiny to ensure the current snarl doesn’t result in below-standard work.
The allegations date to an earlier airline-order cycle when Boeing was under similar production pressure. In the late ‘80s, demand seemed to be overwhelming the company, and airlines were reporting problems in aircraft they had purchased.
Citing the Kerr lawsuit and its own interviews with other Boeing employees, the Monitor said workers at the time were under the impression from supervisors that conservative engineering and redundant systems made it unnecessary to perform flawless work, allowing them to move aircraft out the factory doors faster.
Boeing has said it learned its lesson about quality control and took steps to make flawless work an unmistakable priority, but Wednesday’s report about the complaint reopens questions raised then.
Because the litigation is sealed, there is no public record and it was not possible to confirm its existence. The Monitor did not say where in California the complaint was filed or where Kerr lives now. Nor did it name Kerr’s attorney. It said the Justice Department in Seattle is handling the case.
Boeing issued a statement declining to comment, citing its “belief” the documents are under seal, its desire not to violate a court order and its own rights.
“It is important to note that Boeing has not been made aware of these allegations by the plaintiff or the court and has yet to view the complaint,” the company said. Boeing told the Monitor that it stands by the safety of its airplanes and discussed with the paper current factory procedures.
The paper said only a few of the airplanes cited in the sealed complaint have experienced mechanical difficulties, but a few of those may indeed have had problems related to the factory-floor incidents alleged by Kerr.
The Monitor, which obtained Kerr’s record-keeping, described some of the incidents in detail. Among them, for example, was the installation of a frayed control cable on a 767. The cable was a link from the cockpit to an aileron, a flap on the wing that enables a plane to bank during turns.
Kerr, a cable-rigger at the time, said another worker installed it, knowing it had broken strands, and convinced a plant inspector to sign off on the job. Kerr also noted that aileron cables on “every” 767 “ride too close to the sides of holes.”