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If you fear flying, don’t read this, whatever you do.

In news that will do absolutely nothing to allay the fears of nervous fliers, Boeing has been accused of hiding faulty parts, and then losing track of them, and then installing some of them in new planes.

So, um, if you’re not paying attention to the safety briefing these days, you’re not paying attention at all!

Boeing’s safety problems came to public attention in January when a door literally blew off one of its planes over Portland.

The door was later found in someone’s garden.

Oops.

Later that same month, a Boeing jet lost its front tire as it taxied to the runway at Atlanta Airport.

Oops, again.

There were three other incidents, including a cracked cockpit window and a leaky fuel tank, within four weeks.

Oops. Oops. And oh dear, another oops!

Fortunately, no one died from any of the oopsie daisies, no matter how cramped people in economy felt.

Deadly

But a Boeing whistleblower has died — apparently by his own hand. Insert raised eyebrows here.

John Barnett is alleged to have shot himself on the morning he was to be deposed by lawyers regarding allegations he had made about Boeing.

The quality control engineer, who had worked at Boeing for thirty years, claimed the aerospace firm was cutting corners and endangering public safety in a rush to meet orders for its 787 Dreamliner jets.

An investigation into Barnett’s apparent suicide is ongoing.

But a new whistleblower, who is still alive, claims Boeing had instructed staff to hide defective parts for new 737 planes from Federal Aviation Administration inspectors.

Worse, Sam Mohawk claims some of the defective parts — they were helpfully marked with a red tag or red paint — were lost, presumably installed in new planes.

As an aside, if you’re riding in a 737 and you notice a dab of red paint on the door — or the cockpit window, or the front wheel, or, God forbid, the wing — you might want to confess all your sins and commit your soul to the Lord.

By “Lord”, I don’t mean Pete Buttigieg, just to be clear.

For its part, Boeing says they are reviewing the claims and organising for Sam Mohawk to have problems with the brakes in his car.

I’m joking. But they have provided Sam with a gun and a single bullet.

Wait, that was John Barnett. Again, I’m joking.

Although, after John Barnett’s untimely and unusual death, no-one at Boeing is laughing.

Alarming

As if all of that was not bad enough, Boeing did admit last week there was a “quality issue” with undelivered 787 Dreamliner aircraft.

Inspections found hundreds of fasteners were incorrectly installed.

Oh, is that all?

Rest assured, Boeing officials told regulators the issue would not impact flight safety.

I’ll believe that when they first tell me what the missing fasteners were supposed to be fastening.

A door? A wheel?

Too soon?

Boeing also admitted last month that some employees had falsified inspections for some 787 Dreamliners.

But thankfully, Boeing again insisted that the skipped inspections didn’t create a safety issue.

Safety inspections that have no bearing on safety? Really?

Put your head between your knees and enjoy your flight!

Part of the problem with Boeing, as revealed in a Senate hearing last week, is that, after years of manufacturing great aircraft, the company decided to outsource much of the work.

The fuselage, the tail, the landing gear and flight controls are now all manufactured elsewhere, by other companies, and shipped to Boeing for final assembly.

In all, there are more than 600 different companies manufacturing components for Boeing aircraft. Thirty-five of those companies are from China.

And there are countless subcontractors on top of all of that.

What it all means is that Boeing, in a bid to cut costs by outsourcing almost every part of the plane, seems to have completely lost control of quality control.

You can watch a portion of the Senate hearing below, where Senator Josh Hawley grills the Boeing CEO.

Does any of this stop me flying? No.

Does any of this help my prayer life? Most definitely.

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Republished with thanks to The James Macpherson Report.

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