Two new Air Force One planes are expected to be two years late after production issues risked damage to a jet and investigations reportedly found the supervisor wasn’t credentialed and another employee failed a drug test.
The latest incident came in early 2022 when Boeing made two attempts at moving one of the jets from scaffolding onto jacks, which The Wall Street Journal reported were not designed to hold the weight of the aircraft.
It follows a previous incident of two mini tequila bottles on one of the two aircraft being built, while another liquor bottle was found outside Boeing’s San Antonio production site, people familiar with the matter told the Journal.
While the two jacking incidents didn’t result in any damage, the Pentagon formally requested Boeing improve its operations citing its shortfalls in documentation, procedures and training.
“The situation was corrected and actions taken to prevent reoccurrence,” an Air Force spokeswoman told the Journal.
A Boeing spokesman added to the outlet: “We hold ourselves accountable to ensure we meet stringent quality-control requirements on all of our programs,” he said.
The two jets were signed under a $3.9bn Trump administration deal to be delivered by 2024, but the air force spokeswoman said they expected their arrival to be two years late.
