By Andy Pasztor and Andrew Tangel
This article is being republished as part of our daily
reproduction of WSJ.com articles that also appeared in the U.S.
print edition of The Wall Street Journal (April 29, 2020).
Boeing Co. faces criminal and civil scrutiny into years of
widespread quality-control lapses on its 737 MAX assembly line,
according to people familiar with the details, potentially exposing
the plane maker to greater legal liability than previously
anticipated by industry and government officials.
The inquiries build on a federal grand-jury investigation into
hazardously designed flight-control systems, these people said. As
part of the expanded probes, Justice Department prosecutors and
federal air-safety regulators have been scrutinizing potentially
significant safety problems stemming from 737 MAX production
missteps, these people said.
The grand jury probe has focused largely on what certain Boeing
employees told Federal Aviation Administration officials about the
dangers of a faulty stall-prevention feature before it led to two
fatal MAX crashes in less than five months and prompted the March
2019 grounding of the global fleet, according to people familiar
with the matter.
But simultaneously, the people familiar with the inquiries said,
DOJ prosecutors and FAA investigators also have been examining
factory problems that raise red flags about the Chicago plane
maker's compliance with mandatory production rules and safeguards.
Boeing found debris mistakenly left behind by workers in fuel tanks
or other interior spaces of approximately half of the MAX aircraft
it inspected starting last November, according to a company
spokesman. Another person briefed on the details said most of the
undelivered planes have been inspected.
Neither the Justice Department's interest in MAX assembly issues
nor the extent of debris discovered inside undelivered MAX planes
has been reported before. Industry and government experts say such
debris, including tools, rags and other materials, poses
potentially serious safety concerns when lodged inside fuel tanks
or scattered around compartments or other interior spaces of
airliners.
The FAA is pursuing possible civil-enforcement action and is
considering proposing a multimillion-dollar fine against Boeing
regarding the debris issue, according to the person briefed on the
details. The agency also is drawing up plans for stepped up
government oversight and enhanced assembly-line inspections amid
anticipated resumption of MAX production in coming months, the
person said.
A Boeing spokesman said the inspection results prompted an
internal investigation and immediate corrective actions, which are
being implemented across all commercial airplane programs. As a
precautionary measure, the spokesman said, Boeing recommended that
all 737 MAX operators inspect fuel tanks for debris and provided
detailed instructions for those checks.
No final regulatory decisions have been made by the FAA, the
person said. On Monday an agency statement in response to a Wall
Street Journal inquiry said that all of the issues discovered
during continuing review of the 737 MAX will be resolved to the
FAA's satisfaction before the plane is allowed to fly again. Two
months ago, when Boeing for the first time publicly acknowledged
debris problems with MAX aircraft, the agency said it stepped up
its oversight of the manufacturing process and planned further
action as appropriate, based on additional inspection results.
A Justice Department spokesman declined to comment.
Boeing has said employees initially discovered the slip-ups --
usually referred to as foreign-object debris, or FOD -- in late
November. The revelation showed Boeing's quality-assurance
protocols were falling short at its Renton, Wash., factory after
similar flaws had surfaced in production of its military refueling
tanker.
The Seattle Times previously reported that DOJ criminal
investigators were gathering information about potential
manufacturing problems at a South Carolina plant where Boeing
builds its 787 Dreamliner model.
Early inspection results of MAX jets, reported in February by
The Wall Street Journal, covered some 50 aircraft and indicated
roughly two-thirds of them had debris in their fuel tank, including
tools, rags and boot coverings. Such items can clog fuel lines and
damage sensors, pumps or interior linings. Boeing is storing about
400 MAX jets awaiting delivery.
In its statement Monday, Boeing also said it has incorporated
additional training for workers and updated debris-prevention
audits. And the company added that additional checks are in place
as part of procedures to close up fuel tanks.
The company continues to stress the importance of the issue.
Earlier this month, Gary McCulley, Boeing's 737
manufacturing-operations leader, was promoted to a new role as vice
president for manufacturing and safety in the company's
commercial-airline division. The division's chief, Stan Deal, said
in an internal memo he was counting on Mr. McCulley for "FOD-free"
production.
The separate DOJ and FAA investigations have both included
interviews of Ed Pierson, a former production supervisor in Renton
who has alleged a pattern of assembly-line problems stretching back
to 2018. Mr. Pierson's allegations, provided to the FAA's
leadership in the fall of 2019 and detailed in testimony before the
House Transportation Committee three months later, range from
fatigued workers to sloppy workmanship to chaotic assembly-line
practices.
Eight months before Mr. Pierson's public appearance on Capitol
Hill, he spelled out his allegations to criminal investigators,
according to his attorney, Eric Havian. Prosecutors and Federal
Bureau of Investigation agents questioned Mr. Pierson for several
hours in Seattle in April 2019, according to Mr. Havian.
Prosecutors also have questioned FAA officials about some of the
same issues, according to the person briefed on the details.
Mr. Pierson didn't specifically mention debris in that
interview, according to Mr. Havian. But industry and government
experts said the types of quality-control lapses he laid out --
including understaffing and persistent problems stemming from work
done out of sequence -- often lead to problems with debris.
According to Mr. Havian, his client considers that leaving debris
inside aircraft "is just the sort of mistake that overworked
factory employees are likely to make." Months before the first MAX
crash, Mr. Pierson urged senior Boeing officials to temporarily
shut down 737 MAX production to resolve safety issues, he told
lawmakers in December.
Staffers for the House panel also have been looking into why it
took FAA officials six months to schedule a face-to-face interview
with Mr. Pierson after he sent a letter last September to agency
administrator Steve Dickson, warning about an "unstable production
environment" at the Renton plant. The FAA interview occurred in
late February of this year, said Mr. Havian, who described the
session as thorough and in-depth.
In an interview, Mr. Havian said the panel and DOJ were "the
only two entities which responded with any sense of alacrity or
urgency" to his client's repeated warnings.
In an interim report released last month about Boeing's 737 MAX
crisis, Democrats on the House panel supported Mr. Pierson's claims
of undue management prodding to ratchet up production rates. The
report concluded, among other things, that there was intense
financial pressure on managers as well as on workers to avoid
program delays and keep output levels high, adding that committee
investigators "identified several instances where the desire to
meet these goals and expectations jeopardized the safety of the
flying public."
Write to Andy Pasztor at andy.pasztor@wsj.com and Andrew Tangel
at Andrew.Tangel@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
April 29, 2020 02:47 ET (06:47 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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