Not only was he a whistle-blower, but he was in town because he was to continue giving damning evidence via testimony the following day...
(He had already been questioned and was providing further details to support his claims, and the day had gone long so he was supposed to finish giving his testimony the following morning)
Convenient timing, and convenient circumstances for Boeing.
Especially as news is just breaking of a 787 Dreamliner (the very plane he was blowing the whistle on) reportedly plummeted towards the ground with passengers on board because the pilot
lost control of the aircraft due to flight controls being non-responsive ...
AND leaked video via AL Jazeera of someone who snuck a hidden camera inside the Boeing facility in Sourh Carolina & spoke with some workers, none of whom has good things to say about quality control, quality of workmanship, a total lack of safety inspections, etc
Just to add to my thoughts on the quality control issues coming out of Boeing the last few years...
It wasn't that long ago that brand new KC-46 refuellers were being delivered to the USAF
with tools the workers had left behind in the wings, soda cans, and food
I don't want ti sound alarmist, but it wouldn't surprise me if this turned out to be the beginning of the end for Boeing.
We've seen how the US government was willing to bail out the car companies a few years ago, and bail out the banks a few years before that...but those were entire industries facing challenges, and the loss of those workers + the industrial capacity (including financial) was deemed important enough to bail out.
This isn't an entire industry.
This is one company that can't seem to get its shit together...and while they do employ A LOT of people, and offer good paying jobs, and offer a lot of capacity for high tech jobs, R&D, satellites, etc they also create A LOT of problems for themselves...
90% of safety checks going undone prior to the delivery of brand new aircraft? Rampant drug use on the manufacturing line? Lobbyng the FAA to let them do their own testing & accountability, and
still having serious problems even after the 737-Max?
Sure, they do have some product lines which seem to be doing better than others. The F-18 Super Hornet line, the AH-64 Apache line, the F-15EX (so far anyway) all spring to mind as successful programs without quality control issues.
But anything that has to do with civilian aircraft, or civilian aircraft converted to military use (KC-46) seem to be rife with issues - which makes me wonder if it's a problem as a specific plant as opposed to company wide?
I know they have new management now, but a 787 dropping out of the sky & the side door being ripped off of a 737 in flight isn't boosting my confidence. And if I'm sitting in a metal tube going 750km per hour 35,000ft above the ground, I'd REALLY appreciate having confidence in that metal tube
