The Air India plane that crashed minutes after takeoff from Ahmedabad on Thursday was a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, a model already under the shadow of a whistleblower’s warning about “gaps” in its structure.
The ill-fated aircraft, carrying 242 people — including 10 crew members — was headed for London’s Gatwick Airport when it crashed into a residential complex just 30 seconds after departure. As rescue teams comb through the wreckage, questions are mounting about the aircraft’s structural integrity — and a warning raised by a Boeing engineer last year — that “this could lead to a catastrophic failure.”
“I’m not doing this to bring Boeing down… I’m doing this because I want to prevent a crash.” Those were the words of Sam Salehpour, a veteran Boeing engineer, when he addressed a press briefing in 2024.
His formal whistleblower complaint to the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) alleged shortcuts were taken on the factory floor — particularly when it came to filling tiny gaps in the aircraft’s fuselage — which could undermine its structural integrity over time.
“That’s not how you build an airplane,” Salehpour said, describing alarming practices where workers were “jumping on aircraft parts” to force them into proper alignment.
Boeing dismissed the complaints at the time. “These claims about the structural integrity of the 787 are inaccurate and do not represent the comprehensive work Boeing has done to assure long-term safety.”
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