A new Boeing whistleblower has predicted there are “other things hiding in the bushes” that may cause future disaster, as safety concerns continue to mount over the beleaguered aircraft manufacturer.
Roy Irvin, who worked as a quality investigator for Boeing for six years, said the aircraft manufacturer was “infested with ‘yes men’ and bean-counters”, and that the company would “tear down and rebuild” to make significant progress.
Mr Irvin is one of a handful of employees, both past and present, who have spoken out in recent months about their experiences and concerns of bad workplace practices at Boeing. Two men have died since going public.
The manufacturer has been under fire for months after a series of high-profile safety incidents, including a door plug blowing out of a plane at 16,000 feet in January. The possibility of similar catastrophes occurring in the future should not be ruled out, Mr Irvin said.
“I hope there’s no more but I feel there may be other things hiding in the bushes,” he told The Independent. “The door blowout really hit home for me because I predicted this.”
He continued: "Things don’t get brought to anybody’s attention unless they’re found. There’s other things that probably haven’t been found yet.
"A lot of a lot of defects were found that weren’t on any inspection job, somebody who just happened to see it got lucky and found it.
"There’s probably many things still hiding, I’m afraid. I hope I’m wrong, but it’s very possible."
A spokesperson for Boeing said that the company takes any allegation of improper work or unethical behavior “very seriously”.
“We continuously encourage employees to report concerns as our priority is to ensure the safety of our airplanes and the flying public, and we will take any necessary action to ensure our airplanes meet regulatory requirements,” they told The Indepedent.
“Boeing employees can anonymously report concerns through our Speak Up portal or directly to the FAA (Federal Aviation Autority).”
In the wake of the in-air door blowout, federal authorities launched multiple investigations into the aircraft manufacturer. Multiple whistleblowers have also come forward to sound the alarm over the manufacturing process and their concerns for passenger safety.
Mr Irvin told The Independent that such concerns were “well known” within the company and had been for some time. He, as well as others, had been speaking out internally for many years and received “pushback”, he said.
“The thing about working at Boeing is if you talk to the media, you’ll get fired, so that was definitely off the table,” he said.
“At that point, I would escalate internally as much as possible and oftentimes I got pushed back. But the media wouldn’t have had a way to know about any of this until people started talking publicly recently.
“I would have spoken up earlier if anybody had any questions.”
Mr Irvin echoed the sentiment of lawyer Brian Knowles, who is representing several of the Boeing whistleblowers, who said that the goal is not to “bring down” the company.
“I love the company. I loved working there,” he told The Independent.
“There are so many great people that work there that don’t deserve the rap the company is getting, but the handful of bad actors seem to be the ones that cause the most damage.
“The place is infested with ‘yes-men’ and bean-counters. I’m sure that there’s a way to flush those people out.”
Earlier this week Boeing announced that its leaders had met with the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on May 30, to present its comprehensive Safety and Quality Plan. The new plan was “based on feedback from our employees, findings from FAA audits and recommendations from an FAA expert panel review,” the company said.
Mr Irvin remains skeptical.
“I think they’re going to have to tear down and rebuild before they come back. It’s not gonna be just a simple plan that they presented to the FAA,” he told The Independent.
He described the relatively low amount of serious incidents at Boeing as “a miracle” but reiterated that there was “a very good chance” of future issues.
“I hope I’m wrong and maybe I’m wrong about things that are hiding that weren’t seen. I sure hope to god I’m wrong. But there’s a very good chance of it.”
