Parts supplied to Boeing had “serious defects” (whistleblower)

Fuselages made by Boeing’s largest supplier routinely left the factory with serious defects, according to a former company quality inspector.

Santiago Paredes, who worked for Spirit Aerosystems in Kansas, told the BBC that he often found up to 200 defects on parts prepared for shipment to Boeing.

He was nicknamed a “showstopper” for slowing production while trying to address concerns, he claimed.

Spirit said it “strongly disagrees” with the allegations.

“We vigorously defend ourselves against his claims,” said a spokesperson for Spirit, which remains Boeing’s largest supplier.

Mr Paredes made the allegations against Spirit in an exclusive interview with the BBC and US broadcaster CBS, in which he described what he says he experienced while working at the company between 2010 and 2022.

He used to find “between 50 and 100,200” defects on the fuselages – the main body of the plane – that had to be shipped to Boeing, he said.

“I found a lot of missing fasteners, a lot of bent parts, sometimes even missing parts.”

Boeing declined to comment.

The incident prompted the US regulator, the Federal Aviation Administration, to launch an audit of the two companies’ production practices. The study found numerous cases in which companies failed to follow manufacturing control practices.

Mr Paredes told the BBC that some of the flaws he identified at Spirit were minor – but others were more serious.

He also said he was pressured to be less strict.

“They always wondered why I found it, why I looked at it,” he said.

“They just wanted to get the product shipped. They weren’t focused on the consequences of shipping defective fuselages. They were just focused on meeting quota, on schedule, on budget… If the numbers looked good, the “The condition of the fuselages didn’t really matter,” he said.

Many of Mr. Paredes’ alleged experiences at Spirit are part of his testimony in a lawsuit filed by disgruntled shareholders against the company.

However, in legal documents he is simply referred to as “Former Employee 1.” This is the first time that Mr. Parades, a former air force technician, has spoken publicly.

Before his departure from the company, Mr. Paredes led a team of inspectors based at the end of the 737 Max production line.

A second former quality auditor, Josh Dean, whose claims were also to be part of the lawsuit, died last week after contracting a serious bacterial infection.

The lawsuit accuses the company of deliberately attempting to conceal serious and widespread quality defects and exposing shareholders to financial losses when those defects were revealed. Spirit said it “strongly disagrees” with the assertions in the lawsuit.

Spirit was formerly part of Boeing and remains the aircraft manufacturer’s main supplier. It builds the fuselage of each 737 Max at its factory in Wichita, Kansas, before shipping them to Boeing’s own facilities in Renton, near Seattle, Washington. It also manufactures large parts for the 787 Dreamliner.

She now finds herself in a difficult position. It is hemorrhaging cash and lost $617m (£494m) in the first three months of the year.

Boeing has agreed to provide financial support and is in talks to buy its former subsidiary.

Sources within the aerospace giant insist that efforts are underway to address quality issues at Spirit, and that these have succeeded in reducing the number of defects in parts by around 80%. leaving the Wichita factory.

Mr Paredes said both companies were aware of the extent of the defect problem and that the topic was discussed at weekly meetings between quality inspectors from both companies.

Things came to a head for Mr. Paredes personally, he says, when his superior ordered him to change the way defects were reported, in order to reduce their overall number.

After he protested, he said, he was demoted and transferred to another part of the factory.

“I felt like I was being threatened and I felt like I was being retaliated against for expressing my concerns,” he said.

Mr. Paredes then filed an “ethics complaint” with the company’s human resources department and wrote to Spirit’s chief executive, Tom Gentile.

In that email he said, “I have lost faith in the quality organization here at Spirit and this is my last cry for help.”

Mr. Paredes was later reinstated in his management role and received back pay after his complaint was partially upheld. He left the company shortly after.

He now says he would be reluctant to fly a 737 Max in case it still had defects from the Wichita factory.

“I had never met many people who were afraid of flying before working at Spirit,” he said.

And then, being at Spirit, I met a lot of people who were afraid to fly – because they saw how they built the fuselages.”