Boeing to urge new 787 checks linked to jet’s multiyear review

Boeing will recommend that operators of its 787 Dreamliner inspect a nose component that helps maintain cabin pressure, a consequence of the plane’s tip-to-tail review in recent years that gained urgency amid fresh allegations it cut corners. Speaking to reporters at the company’s 787 factory in North Charleston, South Carolina, Boeing engineers said they’re recommending detailed visual inspections of the part after turning up potential safety issues during a review. There are roughly 1,100 Dreamliners flying commercially. Boeing’s latest recommendation comes as it responds to mounting scrutiny of its manufacturing and safety practices. The company’s safety culture will be the subject of congressional hearings in Washington this week, following a management shakeup stemming from a crisis of confidence after a fuselage panel blew off a different aircraft model, a 737 Max, during an early January flight. The planemaker is also working to dispel claims levied by a company engineer last week that shortcuts taken during 787 assembly work could weaken the advanced aircraft’s structure prematurely. The company has denied those allegations, saying it’s found no sign of fatigue in maintenance checks of the plane’s composite structure performed on about two-thirds of the more than 900 Dreamliners assembled using a manufacturing technique flagged by the whistleblower. The Boeing engineers said the issues prompting the latest planned inspections of the plane’s aluminum forward pressure bulkhead have nothing to do with the whistleblowers’ claims. The company hasn’t identified any safety issues with respect to the management of gaps in the aircraft’s composite airframe, said Steve Chisholm, a Boeing vice president of structural engineering.<br/>