Terrifying video reveals Boeing workers' fears over 'shoddy' 787 jets at plant where doomed Air India Dreamliner was built
Workers at the South Carolina plant alleged the Dreamliners were being built by 'underskilled' and 'uncaring' factory workers who were in 'some cases on drugs'.
One whistleblower claimed '90 percent' of the problems reported on the 787 plane were 'getting swept away' and 'hushed up'.
The 2014 footage, which was first published by Al Jazeera last year, has resurfaced in wake of the tragic Air India plane crash that killed at least 265 people on Thursday.
It was shot in the same plant where the ill-fated Air India plane was constructed. That Dreamliner flew for the first time in 2013 and left the plant in January 2014 bound for the Asian airline.
The London -bound 787 Dreamliner began losing height moments after take-off and crashed in a fireball over a residential area in the Ahmedabad.
Only one of the 242 people on board survived and as many as 24 people on the ground were also killed in what was the world's worst aviation disaster in a decade.
The plane that crashed on Thursday flew for the first time in 2013 and was delivered to Air India in January 2014 - the same year the secret factory video was recorded.
It remains unclear what caused Thursday's tragedy, with mechanical failure or pilot error among the possible causes that investigators will now work to identify.
An undercover employee approached 15 workers at random and asked one simple question: 'Would you fly on one of these planes?'
A Boeing 787 Dreamliner began losing height moments after take-off and crashed in a fireball over a residential area in the Ahmedabad
The plane that crashed on Thursday (pictured) flew for the first time in 2013 and was delivered to Air India in January 2014 - the same year the secret factory video was recorded
Five employees said they would travel on the 787 Dreamliner, but most revealed they had little faith in the aircraft they were building.
'I wouldn't fly on one of these planes,' one worker said, the video revealed. 'Because I see the quality of the f***ing s*** going down around here.'
But more concerning were the workers' allegations that their colleagues were looking for and doing drugs while on the clock.
'It's all coke and painkillers and, what's the other one?' a worker said.
Another replied: 'You can get weed here. You can get some really good weed here. They don't drug test nobody.
'There's people that go out there on lunch and smoke one up.'
Thursday's crash was the first involving a Dreamliner since the wide-body jet began flying commercially in 2011, according to the Aviation Safety Network database.
But Boeing's safety and quality control has been under scrutiny for years after a series of incidents and crashes involving the company's other fleets.
Boeing was deemed responsible for three high-profile accidents involving its 737 MAX narrow-body planes in recent years, including two fatal crashes.
Just six days ago the plane maker reached a $1.1billion deal with the Justice Department to avoid prosecution over crashes involving a 737 Max plane that killed 346 people in Ethiopia and Indonesia in 2018 and 2019 respectively.
Both disasters were later traced to faulty flight control systems, leading to the worldwide grounding of the 737 Max fleet for nearly two years.
The 737 is a design dating back to the 1960s, with the Max crashes blamed on huge new engines bolted onto the middle-aged air frame design to boost the planes' range and capacity.
Computer systems designed to counterbalance the Max's unwieldy proportions were initially too complicated to use and ultimately led to the Ethiopian and Indonesian crashes, investigators ruled.
Boeing's reputation was further damaged in January 2024 when a door plug blew off another new 737 Max, shortly after the plane operated by Air Alaska took of from Portland Airport.
No-one was injured or killed, but investigators say that if someone had been sitting in the empty seat next to the door plug and had their seatbelt off, tragedy may well have ensued.
The incident led to the departure of then-CEO Dave Calhoun, as well as head of commercial planes and its board chair.
The Air India plane that crashed in the city of Ahmedabad was more than a decade old. It first flew in late 2013 and was delivered to Air India in January 2014.
Since then, it accumulated more than 41,000 flight hours, including 420 hours during 58 flights in May and 165 hours during 21 flights in June, according to aviation data analytics firm Cirium and flight tracking website FlightRadar24.
That length of service means the crash may not have been caused by a lapse in Boeing's standards.
Poor maintenance performed by Air India mechanics, pilot error or even external factors like a bird strike may have been to blame.
There is also a chance that the plane may have fallen victim to an act of foul play, with anti-terrorism investigators conducting a probe into the crash too.
Indestructible 'black box' recorders have already been recovered from the wreckage and should provide data that enables investigators to determine the cause of the crash in the coming months.
Before the crash, airline executives had voiced greater confidence in Boeing's rebound in deliveries and in Ortberg's leadership after years of reputational damage for the plane maker.
The public has not yet caught on, however. Last month, the Axios Harris poll of 100 recognizable corporate brands by reputation put Boeing at 88th, same as in 2024.
The wide-body 787 planes have had a strong safety record. They were grounded in 2013 due to battery issues, but no one was reported injured.
Boeing shares were down 5 percent on Thursday after the Air India crash and shares of Spirit AeroSystems, a key supplier, and GE Aerospace, which makes engines for the jet, also fell about 2 percent each.
Boeing's outstanding debt also sold off modestly after the crash.
The investigation into the Air India plane crash is focusing on the engine, flaps and landing gear, a source told Reuters on Friday, as the aviation regulator ordered safety checks on the airline's entire Boeing-787 fleet.
Air India and the Indian government are looking at several aspects of the crash including issues linked to its engine thrust, flaps, and why the landing gear remained open as the plane took off and then came down within moments, the source said.
The probe is also looking at whether Air India was at fault, including on maintenance issues, the insider added.
A possible bird-hit is not among the key areas of focus, the source said, adding that teams of anti-terror experts were part of the investigation process.
The government is considering whether it should ground the Boeing-787 fleet in the country during the probe, the source said.
Air India has more than 30 Dreamliners that include the Boeing 787-8 and 787-9 versions. A source in Air India told Reuters there had been no communication so far from the government on the possible grounding.
Separately, India's aviation regulator ordered Air India to conduct additional maintenance actions on its Boeing 787-8/9 aircraft equipped with GEnx engines, including 'one-time check' of the take-off parameters before the departure of every flight from midnight of June 15.
The airline has also been instructed to introduce 'flight control inspection' - checks to ensure control systems are working properly - in transit inspection, and to conduct power assurance checks, meant to verify the engine's ability to produce the required power, within two weeks.
The aviation ministry said that investigators and rescue workers had recovered the digital flight data recorder - one of the two black boxes on the plane - from the rooftop of the building on which the jet crashed.
There was no information on the cockpit voice recorder, the other black box, which is also crucial to the crash probe.
Earlier on Friday, rescue workers had finished combing the crash site and were searching for missing people and bodies in the buildings as well as for aircraft parts that could help explain why the plane crashed soon after taking off.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was briefed by officials on the progress of rescue operations when he visited the crash site in his home state of Gujarat on Friday. Modi also met some of the injured being treated in hospital.
'The scene of devastation is saddening,' he said in a post on X.
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The Sun
13 hours ago
- The Sun
Final pics show Japan Airlines Flight 123 mins before crash that left 520 dead… & the critical failure that spelled doom
FOUR decades on, the doomed Japan Airlines Flight 123 crash remains one of the world's worst aviation disasters of all time. Haunting final pictures show the jet just moments before it crashed because of a critical failure - killing 520 people on board. 7 7 Tragedy struck on August 12, 1985 when the Boeing 747SR-46 jet crashed just 62 miles northwest of Tokyo. On board the jet were 509 passengers and 15 crew members. Only four of them survived. The flight, dubbed the "Titanic of Japan", took off from Tokyo and was headed to Osaka but tragically crashed in the remote area of remote mountain area of Mount Takamagahara. And to date, it remains the worst disaster in the history of Japanese aviation. One of the last few pictures shows the Jet missing its tailfin. Another picture, thought to be the final picture taken on board, shows oxygen masks hanging from the ceiling. It is thought that the plane was perfectly fine, and the journey began normally after all the routine checks. But just 12 minutes after takeoff, First Officer Yutaka Sasaki and Captain Masami Takahama noticed a tremor tear through the plane. The jet decompressed rapidly, which caused the ceiling near the rear bathrooms to collapse. How pilots cutting engines sparked TWO plane disasters after South Korea & India crashes as calls for cockpit CCTV grow It extensively damaged the fuselage and destroyed the plane's vertical stabiliser and all four hydraulic lines. Moments after the tremor was detected, the air condensed into a fog, forcing the oxygen masks down. For a terrifying 30 minutes, the pilots fought hard to claim control of the plane, but the jet was in a vicious and disorienting cycle of falling and then rising. Passengers shouted as they were thrown around the plane by the rapid spiralling, while the pilots fought to bring the jet to safety. But the out-of-control plane continued to descend and got closer to the mountains, where it crashed and exploded. 7 According to reports, Captain Takahama made a last-ditch effort to keep the aircraft aloft by using the engine thrust to ascend and fall. He is believed to have yelled: "This is the end!" Around 20 minutes after impact, US Air Force serviceman Michael Antonucci reported the crash site. In the aftermath of the crash, the search and rescue efforts were delayed, and survivors were not found until several hours later. This delay likely contributed to the high death toll, as some victims who survived the initial impact died before help could arrive. Japanese officials delayed sending a rescue crew, assuming that no one had survived, and told Antonucci not to discuss the disaster. 7 7 7 The Japanese military only sent rescue teams in the following morning, a whole 12 hours after the crash had been reported. Antonucci revealed a decade later: "Four people survived. 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Metro
2 days ago
- Metro
How four people survived the second-deadliest plane crash that killed 520
Only four people were pulled out alive from the wreckage of the doomed Japan Airlines flight 123 after it crashed on a mountainside. One of the world's deadliest plane disasters struck four decades ago when the passenger jet carrying 524 people crashed shortly after takeoff. Four people, including an eight-year-old child, miraculously escaped the decimated wreckage after the Boeing 747SR-46 plane crashed onto a remote mountain area of Mount Takamagahara. The Japan Airlines flight 123, known as JAL123, remains Japan's worst aviation accident to date. It has been dubbed the Titanic of Japan's aviation world. This is the story of the doomed Japan Airlines flight 123 that will never be forgotten. The Boeing plane took off from Tokyo Haneda Airport and headed towards Itami, Osaka, as usual on August 12, 1985. The plane was packed with families flying on their summer vacations to escape the hot and humid Tokyo weather – a total of 509 passengers and a 15-strong crew. But just 12 minutes after takeoff, parts of the plane exploded due to decompression, causing the ceiling near the toilets to collapse and tearing a hole in the fuselage designed to protect the passengers. To make matters worse, the explosion damaged the tail fin and the four hydraulic lines on the plane, causing it to rise and fall uncontrollably after the pilots had declared an emergency. For a terrifying 30 minutes, the pilots fought to regain control of the plane, which climbed and fell again as they attempted to return to Tokyo. Meanwhile, passengers began to accept their fate and wrote final messages to their loved ones. But the out-of-control plane continued to descend and got closer to the mountains, where it crashed and exploded. It took rescue crews more than 15 hours to get to the crash site, where four survivors, all women, had managed to stay alive. Off-duty flight attendant Yumi Ochiai, mum Hiroko Yoshizaki, 34, with her eight-year-old daughter Mikiko, and Keiko Kawakai, 12, who lost her family in the crash. Keiko was shot out of the plane on impact and catapulted into a tree, where she was found with serious injuries. All four had sat in the rear of the aircraft. The women were seated in the final rows – from 54 to row 60. Yumi recalled the final moments in the plane before everything went silent: 'After the crash, I heard harsh panting and gasping noises from many people. I hear it coming from everywhere, all around me. There was a boy crying 'mother.' I clearly heard a young woman saying 'Come quickly!'.' The JAL123 disaster is known as Japan's aviation industry's equivalent of the sinking of the Titanic, Christopher Hood, a fellow at the University of Bath's Centre for Death and Society, said. Hood, who has written a book about the crash and spent a night at the crash site to get into the shoes of the survivors, said as many as 100 people might have survived the impact. 'If the rescue teams arrive sooner, there would have been more survivors. The survivors there knew it was getting quieter and quieter. Fifteen hours is a long time.' He said the lack of GPS at the time contributed to possible miscalculations as search aircraft relayed the location back to the control tower in degrees and miles, but 'the problem is the speed they are going at, making it it difficult to judge and there's a margin of error. With degrees, one degree makes a 1-2km difference already. 'And the defence force reported back in nautical miles, while Japan uses kilometres. It was the perfect storm and it was a mountainous area.' The Japanese society is less interested in the individual survivours than often is the case in the UK and US, Hood explained. Most of the media attention focused on the 12-year-old Keiko, who became a nurse and helped victims when an earthquake hit. Hood said the cause of the crash is still debated to this day. While the official cause is a faulty repair to the bulkhead, which led to the decompression explosion, an alternative theory is that air was leaking out slowly, which the tail was not designed to take, eventually causing it to break. A wilder theory, which has been debunked, is that the plane was hit by a missile, which then led to cover-up attempts. Hood said the same plane had been involved in an accident in 1978, claiming that the repairs were done 'incorrectly.' He told Metro the impact of the crash was 'huge' in 1985, and it has been etched in the society's consciousness. 'The list of passengers was read on TV, and this is how many people found out about their loved one,' Hood said. He said: 'It is the deadliest single plane crash, and it had an incredible number of people for a domestic flight. Imagine this happening on a flight from London to Edinburgh. 'The crash happened on August 12, which is like the day of the dead or Halloween, and it added symbolism. There were famous people on board, and so many people connect themselves to the crash with one or two steps.' More Trending The disaster struck just days after the 40th anniversary of the brutal atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which added to the collective pain. Hood said the next generations in Japan will learn about the disaster and interest will 'only grow rather than go away.' 'And families are keen for it to be reported. This crash has become the figurehead of all transport accidents.' Every year, people gather at the JAL123 at the Osutaka ridge in the Ueno village, with this year marking 40 years. Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@ For more stories like this, check our news page. 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Daily Mail
2 days ago
- Daily Mail
Woman left dangling 30ft in the air after falling from ferris wheel
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