Boeing has been under scrutiny recently for its quality oversight, following an incident in which a piece of fuselage detached from a Boeing 737-9 Max shortly after take-off. This incident, along with other concerns, prompted the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to request Boeing to improve its quality controls and halt the expansion of 737 Max production. In addition, a whistleblower at a Senate hearing claimed that many 787 aircraft had gaps between fuselage parts that were too high, potentially affecting the service life of the airplanes.
During the construction of some of the 787 “Dreamliner” long-haul jets, there was a reported issue with the connection between the wings and the fuselage not being properly checked as it should have been. Boeing employees had falsified test reports related to this issue, prompting an investigation by the FAA to look into the matter further. It was discovered that certain tests were skipped but falsely documented as completed by staff at the South Carolina plant. Boeing promptly notified the FAA of the violation and is now conducting unscheduled inspections.
Boeing confirmed that checks on the connection between the fuselage and wings were skipped but were inaccurately recorded as completed. The company assured that this was not an immediate safety concern for the current fleet of airplanes and that no aircraft needed to be grounded. However,