U.S. Senator Josh Hawley | Official U.S. Senate headshot
U.S. Senator Josh Hawley | Official U.S. Senate headshot
Today in a Senate Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs Permanent Subcommittee Hearing on Investigations, U.S. Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) questioned Boeing's current Quality Engineer Sam Salehpour on the alarming safety concerns surrounding the aviation company's planes. Salehpour outlined Boeing’s repeated retaliatory behavior against him for blowing the whistle on safety concerns and internal engineering problems with the 787 and 777 aircraft.
"It is unbelievable to me, that in the midst of this safety crisis at this corporation, that what they're doing is threatening their own engineers whose job it is to help identify potential safety concerns," said Senator Hawley. "And, rather than saying, . . . we need to maybe do something about this, they're telling you to hide it; they're reassigning you; they're threatening you; they're trying to shut you up."
"You just try to escape from that because this is hell that I was subjected to, and then [Boeing] threatens you," Salehpour admitted.
Senator Hawley continued his line of questioning, noting the windfalls Boeing executives are earning while endangering the public and manipulating its employees.
"In the meantime, I noticed this guy Dave Calhoun . . . He's the CEO. I guess he's leaving at the end of the year. I wonder how much he's getting paid. I bet it's a lot," concluded Senator Hawley.