Whistleblowers Vs Boeing: What Happened?

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What are whistleblowers and how important are they for the aviation industry, and… why is it that Boeing and its suppliers have so many of them lately? Well, we definitely live in a world where whistleblowers are necessary but recently, we tend to hear about them for the wrong reasons.

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Below you will find the links to videos and sources used in this episode.

SOURCES

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[ghaznavid]

One of South Africa's most famous whistle-blowers once said that people pretend to like whistle-blowers, yet people won't hire someone who previously lost their job for doing this.

[charlotteinnocent]

The reason there ARE so many whistleblowers right now is because there ISN'T an in company ear open to hearing those concerns. These people really did have to become whistleblowers and this should be considered the most serious red flag of safety out there.

[joefin]

The fellow who warned his employer, Alaska Airlines about the horizontal jackscrew issues before one of their MD80's went inverted off of LA, was terminated and can never work again. The culprits still work in the industry.

[rebeccarivers]

I was a whistleblower at Google. I’m glad you shared the realities of whistleblowing. Too many people have misinterpretations of all that whistleblowers do. Like you said, most of what is done both before and after the whistle has been blown, is behind the scenes. Anyone who cares enough to blow the whistle cared enough to try absolutely everything in their power to fix the problems through “proper” channels. And after all of that effort and care you tried to put into the company and the product, the retaliation comes. I got fired and filed an NLRB complaint. I’ve lost any chance at working at a top tech company. I lost a lot of friends too. If you are friends with a whistleblower, you might be one too. A couple months before trial, I almost took my life. It was a really dark time. I’m doing a lot better now, but even still I have to live with the consequences.

[skycladraven]

I had the reputation of having the guts to speak up and getting grief from management. Then later co-workers would under their breath say to me thanks for speaking up. I would actually be irritated by this and tell them that if I am the only one to speak up, then Managment can easily dismiss what I was saying, but if others would to, then MAYBE issues would be addressed.

[pisquared]

It is a lose - lose scenario. If staff don't whistleblow, they will be framed for negligence when the Boeing aircraft inevitably crashes. If they try to avoid this situation by blowing the whistle, they are punished or sacked and when they try to get compensation by testifying, they get killed. The only way to avoid this is not to work for Boeing or its subcontractors.

[Clivesharrison]

One 737 Max falling out of the sky looks like an accident, two in quick succession looks like a problem - one Boeing whistleblower dying unexpectedly looks like an accident, two …

[TeresaBotha-mfgt]

Hats off to all whistleblowers. As someone with a career in health and safety I am saddened by the total disregard of this crucial matter. Money has become more important than human lives.

[sanandaallsgood]

My brother worked at Boeing in Everett, first on the 777 line and then subsequently on the KC-46 line. He too, had many complaints about quality control at Boeing, or perhaps I should say 'the lack of quality control'. His comment was that they were pushing aircraft off the assembly line faster than they should have been, thus not allowing all components to be installed properly or with substandard parts. Also, FOD (Foreign Object Debris) was being left inside the airframes as they were pushed out to the waiting final line. He became so fed up with their lack of attention to detail that he quit his job. This was a job which he looked forward to before these disheartening and frustrating events.

[bjw]

I’ve been a whistleblower in Aerospace as well, over delays of notifying a customer of an escape (non-conforming product being shipped). I eventually had to leave due to harassment over other issues I brought up after that incident, and I earned the moniker “Trouble”. Left aerospace and never looked back.

[deancollins]

I worked for Hughes Satellites which was bought by Boeing. As part of Boeing, we had corporate wide ethics training one day a year. Boeing tried to have everyone participate in training on the same day. Part of the ethics training was that anyone should feel open to reporting an issue, including issues that will stop production.
Boeing training was to be ethical and freely bring forward problems.
I personally had an issue with a part I designed that would be used on 3 identical weather satellites. I designed a part that had very little material remaining between an inner thread and a reduced outer diameter. But, that tiny part was a single point failure for the antenna it was part of.
When building unit 3, the part easily failed during assembly, so I felt that unit which was installed on the satellite needed to be removed and the part replaced with a redesigned part. My team leader resisted removing the installed unit saying that the unit already passed the highest level of vibration it will ever see and delays on the satellite costs $100, 000 per day. I argued that every vibration may fatigue the metal and it could break during launch even though the vibration level is less than the testing survived.
This disagreement occurred during the time that Space Shuttle Columbia broke up during reentry.
When my team leader and I met with the stress engineer, he agreed with me and the team lead was finally convinced to remove and rework the unit that was already installed.
I worked at 3 major companies in my aerospace career, working on missiles, space station and satellites. Each company claimed quality was job #1. Boeing seemed closest to meaning it. I learned in the 80's that quality is job #1 until price or schedule are in jeopardy.
In the 80's, there was derogatory grumble that followed management trying to control the budget to repair issues "fix it, but don't change it." I always thought of that as a bandage which would "change it, but not fix it."

[nigelbond]

A culture of hiding mistakes and retaliation against those that raise concerns seems pretty normal in an American multinational. Those that stick their head above the parapet are given a rough ride. Work loads increase exponentially, remuneration is cut and the ‘culprit’ is ostracised but the actual problem remains unchecked. Thank god I’m about to retire.

[bmill]

Kudos to the whistleblowers! However they should be aware that:

1. They are likely to be tarnished professionally for years if not decades.
2. Their careers will be jeopardised and their lifetime earnings will fall dramatically. Their family lives will be affected in ways that are impossible to foresee.
3. They will watch some of the bad actors become ever more senior, often become board members, gain Knighthoods here in the UK etc.
4. They will wonder what is being said to potential future employers. In my case it took nearly fifteen years to find out how my professional reputation was being smeared. This was after I won a court case.
5. Organisations with bad actors at a senior level will carry on the personal attacks for many years.

There are literally no protections in any country I am aware of to effectively protect whistleblowers.

If I found myself dealing with professional thieves again I like to think I would behave in the same way as I did. However, it is an extremely rough ride. Each time I see a whistleblower come forward I applaud them and simultaneously cringe for their future.

[Blank]

It’s easy to promise your subordinates that you will not retaliate against them. The hard part is convincing them so.

[kenbrown]

I worked on a job where my duty was to fix mistakes. the project management had to make a habit of telling the rest of the crew that everybody EXPECTED mistakes to happen, and I was quite happy to fix mistakes, because that's what I was getting paid to do. but hiding mistakes, only made things worse for everybody.

[lmpeters]

Back in the 1980's, W. Edwards Deming talked about what he called "the five deadly diseases of management, " which at the time explained why so many American companies were losing to (mostly) Japanese competitors. Some businesses listened to his warnings, but the former executives at McDonnel-Douglas clearly did not.

If anyone's curious, the YouTube channel for the Deming Institute has an interview that Dr. Deming gave on the subject in 1984, which is still shockingly relevant today.

[jessicav]

As that whistleblower post alluded, management "metrics" are evil. Oversimplifying how you are doing into a chart always results in the wrong things being measured. People are forced to spend their time making numbers go up rather than improving company value.

[baksatibi]

19:57 This is exactly what Toyota implemented in the Toyota Production System, they call it autonomation (jidoka). If a worker spots a defective product on the manufacturing line they stop production until the root cause of the issue is fixed. This reduces waste by avoiding the manufacturing of defective products that would require fixing later in the production process.

[matchesburn]

Three Boeing whistleblowers ended up dead in less than 90 days...
Being a Boeing engineer that is willing to talk to the federal government is one of the most dangerous professions right now.