Boeing whistleblower tells Congress his boss threatened him after speaking up in meeting: Live

A Boeing whistleblower is set to testify before Congress on Wednesday after claiming one of their models, the 787 Dreamliner, is unsafe to operate.

Sam Salehpour, a quality engineer for the company, testified to a US Senate subcommittee that his boss threatened him after he voiced concerns.

“My boss said, ‘I would have killed someone who said what you said in the meeting,’” Mr Salehpour testified. “This is not safety culture when you get threatened by bringing issues of safety concerns.”

The US Senate hosted two hearings today related to Boeing. The first hearing, held by the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee featured testimony from aviation safety experts. Mr Salehpour is speaking at the second hearing, held by the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Subcommittee for Investigations.

Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun is not expected to appear.

These hearings follow a string of safety incidents with Boeing planes in recent months.

Most notably, a door plug fell off an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 Max aircraft at an altitude of 16,000 feet in January. While no one was hurt, passengers lost several belongings and were left terrified. A preliminary investigationrevealed the door was missing four bolts.

Senator Tammy Duckworth — Chairwoman of the Subcommittee on Aviation Operations, Safety and Security — said Boeing’s stated commitments to safety don’t match up with their actual actions.

“Boeing says it prioritizes safety above all else,” Ms Duckworth said at the Wednesday morning hearing. “But when the expert panel asked Boeing to produce evidence of this commitment, the evidence that Boeing provided ‘did not provide objective evidence of a foundational commitment to safety that matches Boeing’s