“If quality mattered, I would still be at Spirit.”
Santiago Paredes was a quality manager at Spirit AeroSystems, a supplier for Boeing. He resigned from the company in 2022.
Paredes attested that there were defects in the Boeing 737 fuselages during his daily inspections in their factory in Kansas.
“It was very rare for us to look at a job and not find any defects,” he said.
The former quality inspector shared on CBS News how the Spirit executives pressed him to downplay his reports and dubbed him “Showstopper,” because his write-up often resulted in late deliveries.
“They always said they didn’t have time to fix the mistakes” and that “they needed to get the planes out.”
Paredes quipped that in February 2022, his bosses pushed him to finish his inspections quickly and skip specifying issues he found with the fuselages.
He responded to his managers that such a demand was “unethical” and put him “in a very uncomfortable situation.”
“I was put in a place where, if I say no, I was gonna get fired. If I said yes, I was admitting that I was gonna do something wrong.”
After his email, he was demoted from his leadership position. But his appeal with HR compelled the company to reinstate him. However, the pressure and stress of work took a toll on him, and by the summer of 2022, Paredes resigned.
“It takes a toll on you and I was tired of fighting. “I was tired of trying to do the right thing,” Paredes shared.
In his interview with CBS, Paredes highlighted the many issues he found on 737 fuselages, including the similar concerns encountered by an aircraft that had a door fly off amid a flight last January.
“Why’d that happen? Because Spirit let go of a defect that they overlooked because of the pressure that they put on the inspectors,” Paredes blasted.
“If the culture was good, those issues would be addressed, but the culture is not good.”
He also told reporters that the aircraft company, Boeing, knew for themselves that Spirit was sending out problematic fuselages.
“It’s a recipe for disaster. I said it was just a matter of time before something bad happened.”
The former quality manager quipped that his experience made him a hesitant flyer and that he frequently thinks twice before flying because he knows how aircraft are checked.
“Working at Spirit, I almost grew a fear of flying.”
He added, “Knowing what I know about the 737, it makes me very uncomfortable when I fly on one of them.”
Paredes was the latest to speak publicly on the issue of Boeing aircraft. Meanwhile, two whistleblowers have died mysteriously recently.
