Don't Listen to Sam

Boeing engineer warns of 'catastrophic accidents and passenger fatalities'

“The more I pushed for answers, the greater the retaliation became.” – Sam Salehpour

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Sam Salehpour says he used to drive to work with a guy who couldn’t stop complaining about O-rings.

Stupid rubber doohickeys that won’t seal and even dumber bosses who don’t want to hear about them. This is the kind of chatter that rocket scientists exchange on their commutes.

“The O-ring seals failed, killing all seven people on board the Challenger,” Sam said in written testimony on Wednesday before the a U.S. Senate subcommittee. “Since then, I have always said that if I were in the same situation, I would do everything I could to speak up to try to avoid a tragic result.”

Sam Salehpour tells Congress: “There is no safety culture at Boeing and employees like me who speak up about defects with its production activities and lack of quality control are ignored, marginalized, threatened, sidelined, and worse.” (Photo credit: Screen grab from Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations.)

The Space Shuttle Challenger climbed not much higher than a commercial airliner when it flew apart on Jan. 28, 1986. Sam imagines that a Boeing 787 Dreamliner could fly apart too – with far more fatalities. And he says his bosses at Boeing don’t want to hear it.