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American Morning

Boeing Investigates Potential Sabotage

Aired June 08, 2001 - 09:10   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Meanwhile, back in the U.S., Boeing suspects sabotage or an accident caused the wiring damage found in planes at an assembly plant.

And CNN's James Hattori reports this morning, the FBI has been brought in to try and solve this case.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JAMES HATTORI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Security has been tightened at the Boeing commercial airplane plant in Renton, south of Seattle, after the company discovered suspicious damage in the wiring of at least seven of its 737 model jets over the last two weeks.

CARL THOMPSON, BOEING WORKER: A lot of wiring problems going on. Somebody's cutting them, but we don't know who it is and it's a big problem.

HATTORI: In a statement, Boeing says the incidents of damage were -- quote -- "found during routine functional testing and have been repaired. An internal investigation is underway to determine probable cause and if possible, the responsible party or parties."

A Boeing spokesman tells CNN that while the incidents are suspicious, it's not been determined if they were intentional. He says they occurred in various systems within the planes and that in most cases, a single wire within a bundle of wires was damaged.

Boeing's Renton plant has 12,000 employees. Assembly line workers we talked to say the company told them about the incidents Wednesday.

ERIC WHITAKER, BOEING WORKER: Makes me mad, actually, because I'm a -- not only do I work in there but I'm also a pilot and my family flies. And, you know, to think of somebody actually messing with one of these planes, I hope they get caught.

MARVIN BIDCOCK, BOEING WORKER: The way that it was explained to us is it could have been an accident that somebody just didn't fess up to because that happens. I mean, in the factory, you have accidents.

ROBERT MERRITT, BOEING WORKER: We don't know that it was deliberately caused but just about everybody I know feels if it was -- if it was deliberately caused, then that person should go to jail. HATTORI: Boeing 737 is the best selling family of jetliners ever. Nearly 4,000 have been delivered worldwide. The Renton plant currently assembles 24 next generation 737 models per month. Boeing added uniformed security officers to the production floor, but the company says the FBI will now handle the investigation.

James Hattori, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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