‘Like Russian roulette:’ Boeing whistleblower warns of faulty parts on ’60 Minutes’

Another Boeing whistleblower has come forward, claiming bad parts could lead to mass casualties.

The CBS News TV magazine ’60 Minutes’ released an interview with Boeing quality investigator Sam Mohawk Sunday. Mohawk has been with the company for 13 years and worked on three different airplane programs, including in the Renton factory where the infamous Alaska Airlines door panel that blew out shortly after takeoff three miles above Oregon in January was put together. In the video, CBS News Correspondent Kelly O’Grady noted the Renton factory makes around 30% of the world’s commercial jet fleets.

Mohawk told O’Grady he warned Boeing about lapses of safety practices inside the Renton factory months before a panel blew off a 737-9 MAX Boeing airplane carrying 177 people thousands of feet above the ground.

“I was not surprised,” he told “60 Minutes.” “I was almost expecting something to happen. I was actually happy that it wasn’t a catastrophic event that took down an airplane. That kind of put visibility on what was going on internally out to the public.”

Mohawk said management pushing for a quick turnaround is a theme in the Boeing factory.

“The idea is to keep those airplanes moving, keep that line moving at all costs,” he said.

“At all costs, even safety?” O’Grady asked.

“Unfortunately, yes,” Mohawk replied.

He said the mantra leads to the use of faulty parts.

“There’s a desperation for parts because we have problems with our part suppliers,” Mohawk explained. “So there’s, in order to get that plane built and out the door in time, I think, unfortunately, some of those parts were recycled back onto the airplanes, in order to keep building the airplane and not stop it in production.”

More concerning, he said thousands of parts are missing and not just bolts but rudders, which are used for steering planes. Specifically, Mohawk told “60 Minutes” 42 non-conforming rudders, which will not last the 30-year lifespan of a Boeing jet, went missing.

“Those parts came into our system,” he said. “They’re huge parts and they just completely went missing. Somebody, not through our group, moved all those parts away.”

Mohawk worries without a thorough investigation, the faulty parts could lead to a catastrophic event.

“It might not happen within the first year, but down the road, they’re not going to last the lifetime they’re expected to last,” he added. “It’s like Russian roulette, you don’t know if it’s going to go down or not.”

Previous Boeing whistleblower claims

O’Grady noted the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) received more than 200 complaints from whistleblowers over the last year.

“Their safety concerns include mismanagement of parts, poor manufacturing and sloppy inspections at Boeing,” she stated.

In January, weeks after the door panel blew off, an anonymous Boeing whistleblower claimed problems may run deep in the Renton assembly line.

“The reason the door blew off is stated in black and white in Boeing’s own records,” the whistleblower wrote. “It is also very, very stupid and speaks volumes about the quality culture at certain portions of the business.”

Whistleblower: Boeing problems on the Renton assembly line may run deep

Another whistleblower claimed Boeing is involved in a “criminal cover-up.”

“Boeing has said there are no records documenting the removal of the Alaska Airline (plane’s) door,” former Boeing engineer Ed Pierson told the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. “I’m not going to sugarcoat this. This is a criminal cover-up. Records do, in fact, exist. I know this because I’ve personally passed them to the FBI.”

Whistleblower: Boeing involved in ‘criminal cover-up’

In May, a former Boeing employee who blew the whistle on alleged safety problems within the aircraft manufacturer’s plant in South Carolina was found dead.

John Barnett, 62, died from a reported “self-inflicted” wound on March 9, a coroner in South Carolina said earlier this year.

More details: Boeing whistleblower found dead as the airline manufacturer’s issues snowball

With all of the controversy surrounding Boeing, O’Grady begged the question, will airlines now turn to Boeing’s main competitor Airbus?

Contributing: Heather Bosch, KIRO Newsradio; Bill Kaczaraba and Frank Sumrall, MyNorthwest

Julia Dallas is a content editor at MyNorthwest. You can read her stories here. Follow Julia on X here and email her here.