Boeing workers sent blunt message on 787 Dreamliner in leaked video

Video resurfaces following the Air India crash.

Jun 12, 2025 - 22:14

Boeing workers sent blunt message on 787 Dreamliner in leaked video

Boeing's (BA) rough road to reputational recovery hit a major setback June 12 after a 787-8 Dreamliner flown by Air India crashed shortly after takeoff.

As of Thursday evening local time, 204 bodies had been recovered from the crash site, but one local news service said 242 people on board perished with one lone survivor.

The plane crashed in a neighborhood in Ahmedabad, a dense city in west-central India with a population nearly the size of that of New York City.

Part of the plane fell on top of the dining area of B.J. Medical College, killing at least five medical students and injuring nearly 50.

The cause of the crash is not yet known. Authorities do not know whether the pilots, the plane, or something else is at fault, but Boeing's recent crash history is still fresh in people's minds, and its stock took a 5% hit the morning of the crash.

Boeing Chief Executive Kelly Ortberg said in a statement: “Our deepest condolences go out to the loved ones of the passengers and crew on board Air India Flight 171, as well as everyone affected in Ahmedabad.

"I have spoken with Air India Chairman N. Chandrasekaran to offer our full support, and a Boeing team stands ready to support the investigation led by India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau.”

Boeing said it would "defer to India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau to provide information about Air India Flight 171, in adherence with the United Nations International Civil Aviation Organization protocol known as Annex 13."

According to the Aviation Safety Network database, this is the first reported crash of Boeing's Dreamliner, which debuted in 2011.

However, since two Boeing 737 Max aircraft experienced two major crashes within a five-month window a few years ago, questions about Boeing's quality and safety have run rampant.

Firefighters work at the site where Air India flight 171's aircraft, a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, crashed.
Image source: Anthaky/AFP via Getty Images

Hidden video leak shows workers' concerns about Dreamliner production

While Boeing's smaller, more mass-market 737 Max and its failures have gotten most of the attention in recent years, Boeing's Dreamliner program has also come under major scrutiny.

Multiple Boeing whistleblowers have come forward about the plane, including one engineer who claimed that improper assembly and fastening of the fuselage section posed a risk to the vehicle's longevity, potentially leading to a situation where the fuselage breaks apart mid-flight.

Boeing engineer Sam Salehpour was the engineer who exposed the fuselage issue. His testimony in 2024 prompted an investigation by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration.

But he wasn't the only person talking about the Dreamliner's safety.

Leaked video from 2014 shows Dreamliner assembly workers making disparaging remarks about the plane's safety.

Last year, Al Jazeera published hidden-camera footage of Boeing's assembly plant in Charleston, S.C.

The person wearing the camera asks 15 workers whether they would fly in the plane they are building.

Ten of them said no.

One worker said bluntly, "I wouldn't fly on one of these planes because I see the quality of the f***ing sh*t going on here."

The worker wearing the wire says he went to the media after seeing how bad things had gotten at the facility.

"With all the problems reported on the 787, there's 90% that's getting swept away and hushed up. It's an iceberg," the anonymous whistleblower said.

A spokesman for Boeing didn't comment on the video.

Boeing whistleblowers sound the alarm

Boeing whistleblowers submitted more than 200 reports during a 12-month period last year, according to the FAA.

Most of those reports were for poor manufacturing and sloppy inspections at the company, CBS reported.

Salehpour is represented by the law firm Katz Banks Kumin. The firm did not immediately comment on this story, but other whistleblowers have also come forward publicly.

The most prominent might be John Barnett, who spent three decades at Boeing. He began working as a quality manager on the long-haul 787 Dreamliner at the South Carolina facility in 2010.

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Barnett accused managers of pressuring workers to ignore FAA regulations and then accused the company of retaliating against him. Barnett and his attorney, Rob Turkewitz, claimed he had more than 3,000 internal documents to support his claims.

Barnett was scheduled to complete his final deposition day on March 9, 2024. He was found dead in his vehicle when he never showed up for the meeting. Police ruled the death a suicide.

"He put up a good front with us, but you know, times when we really had heart-to-heart conversations, you could tell it just wore on him," his brother Michael Barnett told CBS.

"You know, I'd ask him, 'Why do you want to — why do you just keep pursuing it?' And he's just, like, 'Because it's the right thing to do. Who else is going to do it?'"