Boeing publicizes fourth Chief Aerospace Safety Officer Report
By Bjorn Fehrm
Boeing Chief Aerospace Safety Officer Don Ruhmann publishes his 2025 Safety Report today. Leeham was present in briefings both on the report content (this article) and how the safety work is progressing in view of recent problem areas (a Monday article).
The report describes the work of the dedicated Chief Aerospace Safety Office, established in 2021. The office is focused on preventing accidents by fostering an active safety culture. The 2025 report describes areas where Boeing’s Safety work has been improved and expanded.
This is the fourth report published since Boeing started to share them with the public in 2022.
Work to strengthen Flight Safety
Boeing has several activities to strengthen the safety of flight, both for Boeing and for the industry. Commercial flight is already the safest way of transport, but it can be improved further.
The Boeing activities can be grouped into:
- Strengthening the Safety Culture internally.
- Improving the processes and practices around the development, production, and support of Boeing Commercial Aircraft products.
- Being very active in customer airline and industry collaborations for safer air transport.
Strengthening the Boeing Safety Culture
The key pillars are the internal Speak Up anonymous reporting channel, further training of its employees, an interactive website reporting on all industry incidents and accidents over the years, and what can be learned, and further engagement of employees in Boeing’s Safety Management System (SMS).
The activity around the employees gained renewed importance and commitment after the plug door blowout on Alaska Airlines flight 1282 on January 5, 2024.
The analysis and feedback during and after the quality stand-downs of all Boeing Commercial Airplane (BCA) employees after the accident showed that the employees wanted more on-the-job training and more information on the quality and safety work.
The stand-downs generated over 27,000 individual pieces of feedback, such as suggestions, comments, and complaints. The FAA also visited multiple sites and conducted multi-week audits.
A total of 160,000 employees have now been trained on their role in identifying and reporting things that can result in product hazards.
A Website has been generated where an interactive time history is displayed that explains how Boeing and the industry analyzed past incidents and accidents and how people applied the lessons learned.
The Speak Up internal confidential and anonymous reporting channel for product and services safety, quality,  or compliance concerns has had a 220% yearly volume increase after the report’s anonymity and independence from line management was improved, Figure 1.
Boeing Safety Practices
The Boeing Safety Management System (such a system is mandated for an airframer by the FAA from 2027) has had an additional 1,000 employees go through a five-week virtual training to be Safety Culture champions inside Boeing.
The system, which is continuously upgraded to the level required by the FAA by 2027, is used in production to focus on process improvement in the right areas that affect safety and development to raise the critical factors when conducting Design and Build Audits.
Another improvement is the Independence of the ODA (Organization Designation Authorization by FAA) Boeing employees who do FAA-assigned controlling of Boeing work. Feedback from these is that they now feel free from internal pressure when doing their job.
Like other manufacturers, Boeing is increasing the amount of data captured from airline flight operations so that it can use AI-based machine learning and other algorithms to extract relevant information that can lead to further improvement of flight safety. An example is how the ADS-B data (which now covers all commercial flights) can give detailed touchdown point information, leading to better practices and systems that avoid runway excursions.
Improved operational support to airlines
Airframers have long had Field Service Representatives stationed at airlines. Boeing has extended this to flight operations, placing 140 newly hired pilots at airlines to work with the flight operations personnel and pilots to increase support for safe flights and bring direct feedback to Boeing’s safety and other systems.
The improved operational support also includes Flight Safety Conferences together with airlines, and cooperation with the industry to improve accident statistics.
