Boeing ‘whistleblower’ fired after highlighting potentially ‘catastrophic’ flaw – lawyers

The US jet maker has come under intense scrutiny following a string of accidents

Another potential whistleblower has come forward claiming that he was fired for filing a complaint that Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner planes were being built in an unsafe manner, according to legal documents obtained by CNN.

Boeing has been under intense scrutiny in recent months, since a door tore off one of the company's jets during an Alaska Airlines flight in January and left a gaping hole in the fuselage.

CNN cited complaints filed on Wednesday by attorneys for Richard Cuevas, a mechanic at Strom, a contractor for Boeing’s manufacturing partner Spirit Aerosystems.

Cuevas claims he witnessed holes being drilled improperly into the nose parts of 787 planes at a facility in Kansas in 2023. According to the mechanic, the gaps he observed could “compromise power and air pressure on the planes, creating serious safety risk for the passengers on board” and potentially lead to “catastrophe,” CNN wrote.

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Cuevas filed a complaint with Boeing and Spirit in 2023 about “substandard manufacturing and maintenance processes” he had witnessed and was fired just a few months later, according to the documents.

Boeing said in a statement that it had investigated Cuevas’ allegations and concluded that the holes did not pose a safety problem.

Numerous whistleblowers have alleged in recent years that the 737 Max, the 787 Dreamliner, and the 777 have serious production issues. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has launched several inquiries into Boeing and in 2021 deliveries of new Dreamliners were halted while the regulator looked into quality control issues.

The US Department of Justice is reportedly considering filing criminal charges against the company over its quality and safety failures.

READ MORE: Boeing faces possible criminal indictment – Reuters

Two crashes involving Boeing 737 MAX aircraft, in 2018 and 2019, resulted in nearly 350 deaths. The aerospace company admitted that a design flaw was to blame for the accidents, after which all 737 MAX planes were grounded.