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A former senior aerospace engineer with Boeing, fired last year under disputed circumstances, is going public with concerns that the new 787 Dreamliner is unsafe.
The allegations surfaced in the Seattle Times newspaper today. Boeing's headquarters are located in the Pacific Northwest US city.
Forty-six-year veteran Vince Weldon contended in a blog that in a crash landing that would be survivable in a metal airplane, the new jet's innovative composite plastic materials will "shatter too easily and burn with toxic fumes".
He backed up his views with emails from engineering colleagues at Boeing and claimed the company "isn't doing enough" to test the plane's crashworthiness.
Boeing told the Seattle Times that they vigorously deny Weldon's assertions, saying the questions he raised have been addressed to the satisfaction of its technical experts.
Weldon's allegations were to be aired today (NZ time) by Dan Rather, the former CBS News anchor, on his weekly investigative show on cable channel HDNet.
Weldon said he believes that without years of further research, Boeing shouldn't build the Dreamliner and that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) shouldn't certify the jet to fly, according to the newspaper report.
Boeing's current schedule calls for a six-month flight-test programme and federal certification in time for delivery to the first wave of customers in May.
- NZHERALD STAFF
