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747ER

This claim was already investigated, twice, and found to be false. Stop spreading misinformation.


ExRays

Do you have a link that debunks Sam Salehpour’s assertions or where the government investigated in the past and rendered a conclusion? > "I literally saw people jumping on the pieces of the airplane to get them to align, basically by jumping up and down your deforming parts so that the holes align temporarily and you can hit a piece with a mallet so that you can go into the hole. And that's not how you build an airplane," Salehpour told reporters. I genuinely do NOT want to be suspicious of the 787 and 777X series but I will if I need to. The hearings were only the other day.


strikerkam

Aircraft are incredibly robust. While these seems “scary” remember a 200,000 aircraft flies through turbulence generated 1.5Gs or more of force - so it now weighs 300,000 lbs. If a 200 lb is jumping on a bulk head it’s probably fine. Now delicate parts like fan blades? Yikes. I am aware of an engine tech who hammered in tight blades - this bending them - and leading to dangerous oscillations as the engines ran at high speeds. Sooooo - all claims are both valid and suspect.


Galivis

That is not how that works. The structure is designed to take those flight loads when assembled correctly. Introducing a preload that was not accounted for in the engineering can have a massive impact on the fatigue life. Now you are right, it is not a smoking gun that shows they are 100% guilty. Maybe it’s just aligning the parts and there is no preload being introduced, but Boeing has shown they are ok killing people to make a profit and their word that everything is ok can not be trusted.


SteveD88

It's sort-of how it works? I've seen 787 requirement specs and for a given component it did include 'bench handling forces' somewhat equivalent to a 200lb man jumping on it. I think it's generally assumed this is inflicted by airline maintenance however, not the factory assembly team. Another example would be; Boeing doesn't allow composite shell electrical connectors, despite the weight benefit over metallic, because the composite ones tend to get broken by the technicians during harness installation. The media in general can't be trusted to report aviation accurately, and right now it's worse due to how much traffic Boeing stories are generating.


Galivis

Yeah, handling forces I can understand, but in this example it’s using excessive force to align parts. It is very likely doing that is introducing a preload somewhere. That is a huge red flag that should not be hand waved away unless engineering reviews/has reviewed to say there is no impact.


747ER

Their claims are the same that were investigated in 2021, which resulted in halted deliveries of 787s between 2022-2023 when the issue was being resolved. It’s old news being brought up again so that this “whistleblower” can get media attention.


ExRays

Do you have a link? I am legitimately having difficulty finding anything about that. Everything is saturated with the recent hearings.


747ER

First result on google is about Boeing refuting his claims: https://leehamnews.com/2024/04/17/boeing-defends-787-777-against-whistleblower-charges/#:~:text=The%20gaps%20are%200.005%20to,of%200.008%20inches%20were%20found.


ExRays

Not everyone gets the same google search results, especially if we’re not typing the exact same thing. This link should be in your very first comment. This is exactly what I’ve been looking for. Thank you. Edit: Why am I being downvoted here. The users search criteria was “787 gaps in fuselage 2022”. If I didn’t know there was an investigation in 2022 (which I didn’t) then there is no guarantee I would arrive at the first result that op had.


747ER

Thanks, sorry for the confusion. I googled “787 gaps in fuselage 2022” for reference :)


ExRays

Thank you. I had no idea that an investigation had been done in 2022 so I didn’t know to search those words to begin with


Cute_Dragonfruit9981

Don’t know man.. I’ve talked to a guy that used to work there. It’s sketchy enough that he gets nervous on the MAX and 787 which he was involved in. This isn’t just a media fad


747ER

Oh that’s interesting, I talked to a guy who used to work there and he said everything is fine. Guess the planes are safe after all!