Former Boeing quality inspector said he was under pressure (2 photos + 2 videos)
Santiago Paredes, who worked for Spirit AeroSystems (Boeing's main supplier) in Kansas, told the BBC he often found as many as 200 defects in parts on fuselages for 737 Max planes being prepared for delivery to Boeing. 
Before he left the firm, Paredes led a team of inspectors working at the end of the 737 Max production line.
The employees even jokingly nicknamed him “showstopper” because he regularly slowed down work and tried in every possible way to interfere with the sending of an open marriage.
Paredes made the allegations against Spirit in an exclusive interview with the BBC and US broadcaster CBS, in which he described what he said he experienced while working for the firm between 2010 and 2022. 
“I found a lot of missing fasteners, a lot of bent parts, sometimes even missing parts,” he said in an interview.
He also claimed that he was pressured to be less strict. The situation came to a head for Paredes personally, he said, when his manager ordered him to change the way he reported defects to reduce the overall number of defects.
"They just wanted the product shipped. They weren't focused on the consequences of delivering faulty fuselages. They were just focused on meeting quotas, meeting schedule, staying on budget... If the numbers looked good, the condition of the fuselages didn't really matter." I felt threatened and I felt retaliated against for raising concerns," he claims.
A spokesman for Spirit, which remains Boeing's largest supplier, said the company is "vigorously defending itself against Paredes' claims," even firing him to avoid interference. Boeing declined to comment.
Santiago Paredes has officially become Boeing's latest whistleblower, coming forward just days after another whistleblower and Spirit employee died unexpectedly from a "fast-spreading infection."
Earlier this week, another investigation was launched after Boeing told regulators it may not have properly inspected its planes.
Meanwhile, another 737 belonging to Air Senegal rolled off the runway at Dakar airport (the capital of Senegal), reports the local publication Dakaractu.
There were 78 passengers on board the plane, 11 of them were injured, four were seriously injured. Due to the incident, Blaise Diagne airport has temporarily suspended operations.
