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[excerpt]
Mon 29 Jan 2024
Former Boeing employees warn production defects ignored by company and US aviation regulator put passengers at risk

Whistleblowers are warning production defects on Boeing planes haven't been addressed by the company or the US regulator, putting travellers at greater risk of being involved in an incident.
Key points:

Former Boeing employees say their repeated concerns about production defects on Boeing planes have been ignored
Boeing has been under intense scrutiny after a panel on a 737 MAX 9 aircraft blew off mid-flight
The US aviation regulator has since announced an audit of 737 MAX production

'A slow erosion of culture'
Aviation consultant Neil Hansford agrees with the general assessment from aviation experts worldwide that the problems with Boeing began two decades ago when it merged with rival company McDonnell Douglas. The takeover slowly eroded the culture of the more than 100-year-old company, Mr Hansford told the ABC. "This is all about culture," he explained. "Boeing was run by engineers. And everything was motivated by engineers. And part of that was excellence, and safety and security.
"Then in came McDonnell Douglas … Engineers have been driven down the hill and replaced by accountants, and the management style just hasn't worked.
When Boeing's rival Airbus was set to release a new plane around a decade ago, Boeing rushed to find a model that could compete. Instead of building an entirely new model, which would have taken far longer at greater expense, the company redesigned its hit 737 plane, a best-seller that had been around for decades, creating the 737 MAX.
But due to the bigger engine on the old design, the MCAS software was required to automatically activate during flight and prevent the plane's nose from tipping up.