Boeing CEO to face Capitol Hill grilling

Agencies | New York, United States

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun is expected to apologize to families of crash victims on Tuesday as he faces a Senate grilling following accusations that the plane maker put profits over safety.

The hearing, an examination of “Boeing’s Broken Safety Culture,” follows an April session of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations featuring a Boeing engineer who testified that he was punished for raising safety questions about the top-selling 787 Dreamliner and 777.

Calhoun’s appearance will mark his first testimony before a congressional panel since an alarming mid-flight incident in January on a 737 MAX plunged the company back into crisis mode.

US investigators are still probing the incident with the Alaska Airlines plane, which made an emergency landing after a fuselage panel blew out. On Tuesday morning, the Senate committee detailed additional complaints from Boeing workers, including an official filing from a whistleblower who worried that Boeing’s lax policies on the use of damaged or inadequate parts could “lead to a catastrophic event,” according to a subcommittee memo.

Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal, who will chair the session, said the litany of complaints from workers showed a culture “where those who speak up are silenced and sidelined while blame is pushed down to the factory floor,” according to remarks distributed ahead of the hearing. Calhoun was “brought in turn this company around,” Blumenthal said.

“But instead of asking what has caused Boeing’s safety culture to erode, you and your colleagues in the C-suite have deflected blame, looked the other way, and catered to your shareholders instead.”