A new Boeing whistleblower is alleging production quality issues with the company's popular carbon fiber widebody jet.
Sam Salehpour, a Boeing engineer, claims that sections of the fuselage of the 787 Dreamliner are improperly fastened together in a way that could weaken and break over time -- possibly mid-flight, The New York Times first reported. He also claims he was retaliated against when he raised concerns.
Salehpour said the company is using excessive force on its production lines to get parts of the massive 787-fuselage, which are manufactured by different subcontractors and are not exactly the same shape, to fit together.
"I literally saw people jumping on the airplanes to get pieces to align," Salehpour said during a press availability organized by his attorneys, per USA Today. "This can cause damage to the parts… We are talking about airplanes, not pieces of furniture that require home assembly."
According to a complaint he filed with the Federal Aviation Administration, the issues could lead to a catastrophic failure of plane components inflight.
In a statement to The Times, Boeing said it had full confidence in the 787 Dreamliner, adding that "claims about the structural integrity of the 787 are inaccurate and do not represent the comprehensive work Boeing has done to ensure the quality and long-term safety of the aircraft."
Salehpour said he filed a complaint with the FAA after he was repeatedly retaliated against for raising concerns about shortcuts he believed Boeing was taking -- something the company has also denied. Lawyers said Salehpour was transferred to work on another aircraft, the 777, and he found additional problems with how that fuselage was being assembled as well.
"This is the culture that Boeing has allowed to exist," lawyer Debra S. Katz told The Times. "This is a culture that prioritizes production of planes and pushes them off the line even when there are serious concerns about the structural integrity of those planes and their production process."
Salehpour said he doesn't want to see Boeing fail, but he wants the company to succeed and "prevent crashes from happening."
"The truth is Boeing can't keep going the way it is," Salehpour said on a conference call with reporters, per CNN. "It needs to do a little bit better, I think."
Salehpour is set to testify on his experience with issues at Boeing before Congress on April 17.