Embattled Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun spent two hours Tuesday trying to convince largely skeptical senators that the embattled planemaker has been committed to safety since two deadly crashes six years ago.
Democratic and Republican lawmakers alike grilled Calhoun at a Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations hearing about a series of mishaps that have rocked the company this year — the latest safety blunders since two crashes in 2018 and 2019 killed nearly From 350 people.
Calhoun, testifying for the first and perhaps last time, denied widespread accusations that Boeing retaliates against employees who raise safety concerns.
“I often praise and reward people who raise issues, even if they have serious consequences for our company and production,” he said. “We work hard to reach our people.”
The origin of the hearing was an incident on board an Alaska Airlines plane in January, when part of a Boeing 737 MAX 9 fuselage was torn from the fuselage mid-flight. Calhoun told lawmakers that in the immediate aftermath of the Alaska Airlines flight, Boeing conducted company-wide feedback sessions with employees on ways to improve safety, and that the plane manufacturer had made significant changes to its incentive structure in the past year.
“I'm trying to process 30,000 ideas on how to move forward,” he said.
This is not what current and former employees claimed. Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, the hearing's chairman, told Calhoun that dozens of whistleblowers reported to the subcommittee with a range of retaliatory actions, including reassignment, exclusion from key meetings, verbal assault, and even physical threats.
Boeing manager and whistleblower John Barnett, who died in March of an apparent suicide, received 21 phone calls from his supervisor on one day, and 19 calls on another day, after Barnett raised concerns about missing parts. According to Blumenthal, when Barnett confronted the supervisor about the calls, the supervisor told him he was “going to push him until he broke.”
“I listened to the whistleblowers who attended your hearing,” Calhoun told Blumenthal. “Something went wrong, and I believe their statements are true.”
In the wake of the Alaska Airlines disaster, a wave of whistleblowers bolstered investigations into Boeing. Before the hearing, the subcommittee released allegations from a quality inspector, Sam Mohawk, who alleged that Boeing lost track of as many as 400 spare parts for the 737 MAX.
One of the subcommittee's key questions was whether Boeing had actually made any substantive changes to its quality and safety controls in the past five years.
In 2021, the company settled a lawsuit with the Department of Justice after two plane crashes in 2018 and 2019 killed 346 people. Boeing paid a $243.6 million fine in order to avoid charges of deceiving regulators about the aviation system. The Justice Department now alleges that Boeing failed to make agreed-upon changes to prevent similar incidents from happening again.
“I think you've certainly demonstrated that you can talk about these changes, but actually making them may take a different team,” Blumenthal said.
Josh Hawley, a Republican senator from Missouri, accused Calhoun of “divestmenting” the company, saying the CEO deliberately chose to maximize profits and stock price at the expense of safety.
“We have had multiple whistleblowers appear before this committee and claim that Boeing is cutting every possible corner on quality and safety,” Hawley said. “Not just in the past, but now.”
Hawley went so far as to ask Calhoun why he hadn't resigned yet, but the CEO defended his record at the helm of Boeing.
“I'm proud to take this job,” Calhoun replied. “I am proud of our safety record. I am proud of every action we have taken.”
