Boeing airframes, made by the company’s largest supplier, Spirit AeroSystems, regularly left factories with serious defects. This was said by former quality inspector Santiago Paredes, who previously worked at Spirit AeroSystems from Kansas, USA. He told the BBC that he often found up to 200 defects on parts being prepared for shipment to Boeing.
Paredes said he was nicknamed the “showstopper” because he slowed down production when he pointed out problems he found. Other people have previously come forward with allegations about the quality of work at Boeing itself.
Paredes’ former employer said he strongly disagrees with the allegations. “We strongly dispute his claims,” a Spirit spokesperson said.
Paredes made the accusations against Spirit in an exclusive interview with the BBC and the American television station CBS. He described what he said he experienced during his time working at the company between 2010 and 2022. He said he often found “50 to 100, 200” defects in fuselages – the main parts of the aircraft – that were supposed to be handed over to Boeing.
“I was finding a lot of missing fasteners, a lot of bent parts, sometimes missing parts,” Paredes said. He drew attention to problems in the company as a so-called whistleblower, which is an employee who alerts the authorities to illegal or unethical practices in the workplace.
In 2018 and 2019, a total of 346 people died in two serious accidents involving Boeing 737 MAX aircraft. The planes were then taken out of service for more than a year and a half due to the decision of the authorities all over the world.
