Alphabet Aircraft

Submitted by Anonymous

 

I was hired by Alphabet Aircraft in year 1. 

 

Shortly after starting I was tasked to do an informal audit of the material safety data sheets (MSDS) on the floor.  I found over 50 that were out of date and over 40 materials (paint, adhesives etc) that had no MSDS at all. I also observed two spray painters spraying lead based paints with no fresh air equipment or masks on. I was told that every time a similar concern was taken to the Company President he would get angry and say they did not care about the provincial Health and Safety Act and that no one, including any branch of the government, will tell them what to do. The person nonetheless took my concerns to the President, and was walked out the door about a week later.

 

Shortly after this incident I was put on my first quality project by my manager. This was to design a defect feedback system. Shortly after inception of the system, the president sent the message to my manager that the defect system was to be dismantled and no more data collection was to take place.  I later found out that the president did not like that the defects we had found could be seen by anyone.

 

The president hired a former Transport Canada Inspector (TCI) to be the quality manager at Alphabet. TCI approached me one day to tell me that the new V.P. of Operations (VPO) had transferred me to the quality department and that I was now working for him. He asked me if I had any internal auditing experience. I confirmed that I had performed some internal audits in the automotive sector but nothing in aerospace.  TCI then told me I was now the auditor for Alphabet Aircraft.  I asked him how deep he wanted me to go in performing these audits. He directed me to write up everything I found so Alphabet could address all issues. He wanted to fix everything and not to have Transport Canada find anything.

 

Since I had no training in Canadian Aviation Regulations I requested training, but was refused.

 

 I wrote close to one hundred findings during my employment as an auditor at Alphabet Aircraft, including the use of unapproved drawings on the production floor. All production should have been stopped at this time until everything was cleared up, but it was not. A meeting was called and I was told that VPO said that a way to solve the problem was to get me to stop the audits. 

 

During the time that TCI was the quality manager I had very little contact with him at all. He was being interfered with by VPO. It was common knowledge that VPO saw the quality department as a nuisance and tried to limit our functioning.  A new quality manager was hired. TCI trained him, and then left the company. 

 

I was approached at one point and told that I would be taking over performing a destructive test called a four point bending test. This test consisted of taking fiberglass and carbon material samples that were manufactured at the same time as material that would become the aircraft structure. I was trained in how to perform the test and shown the database that performed the calculations to show if a sample passed or not.

 

I discovered that hundreds of samples were thrown in boxes in a storage area that were never tested. That meant that all the aircraft that these belonged to should never have been produced as there was no way to tell if the samples passed or not. I started to test these samples and found that one type of samples was failing at an alarming rate.

 

The next step I performed was reviewing the database to see if this happened in the past and what was done about it. It showed many instances of the sample failing. There was a notation in the database that showed a method of finding another sample made of the same cloth and resin batch and testing it. The second part of the test was to perform a glass transition test on the failed sample. 

 

I went to tell the Quality Manager what I had discovered. He was shocked and told me that nothing would be shipped or moved anywhere until this issue was resolved. It took eight weeks to receive an NCR from our customer and nothing was shipped during this time. They came up with an alternate test methodology where they had to cut a small section out of the aircraft and test it directly. If it passed then it was approved to go. 

 

All aircraft in the facility that had a failed test were checked but I asked about all the aircraft in the field all over the world that were not checked. I was told to “not go there”. Yet again, items were being kept secret and I was told to keep quiet.

 

During this time, the VPO was fired and the QM also left the company. Eventually, a replacement was found.

 

Transport Canada comes in to perform audits on a regular basis. The newest QM asked to see my audits and Transport Canada also looked at them. Transport decided they did not like the check sheets that had been in use for years. Transport then put a suspension of production order against Alphabet until the check sheets were to their liking. QM told me to fix them although he gave me no direction as to what that might entail. I struggled and finally had them ready.  This was during my fourth year at Alphabet Aircraft.

 

I showed QM the new check sheets including two completed ones. QM gave me the approval to use them. I was directed to do all the previous audits over again using the new check sheets.  

 

I took my completed audit report to QM for approval. I wrote a corrective action for the findings but QM ordered me to remove the findings from the audit report and destroy the corrective action. QM said he did not want Transport Canada to see findings like that. He was very panicked and angry.  

 

I told QM that I did not believe a proper audit could be done by the deadline Transport Canada had imposed. QM said he knew there was not enough time to complete the audit and to write down names of people I did not actually audit and fabricate answers. I told him that I did not believe this was ethical or even legal and that Transport might follow-up on these and discover the deceit. He said Transport would never follow-up and that it was himself and Alphabet that would dictate what was acceptable, not Transport Canada.

 

QM returned my audit and told me to remove all references to certain documents I had discovered we were not using as listed in the procedure and no one I interviewed had ever heard of them. At this point QM became agitated and angry and yelled at me that all audits from now on were to be “clean”. I was to record no more findings and write no corrective actions. He then proceeded to tell me that if Transport Canada read these that they would close the factory and everyone would lose their jobs including me. This was a direct threat that if I did not overlook issues, everyone would lose their jobs.

 

I told QM that most of the corrective actions were answered poorly and that I could not sign off on them as closed. At one point when it was getting close to a Transport Canada audit QM ordered me to close all the corrective actions as Transport had imposed a deadline. Again he told me that we would all lose our jobs if I did not close them all. 

 

Later, Transport Canada came in to do an audit. I was ordered by QM to be a guide although I had been recently promoted to the position of Quality Control Supervisor.  By having the new check sheets put in place in time, Transport did not suspend our production.

 

The Transport Canada audit went very poorly as I knew it would. QM was getting more and more panicky as the audit proceeded.

 

Transport Canada was finding all the items I had told management about and they had done nothing to fix.

 

On the final day of the audit I was called to go to the exit meeting with Transport Canada and various personnel from Alphabet including the president. The Transport Canada lead auditor then stated that the upper management of Alphabet Aircraft and the person responsible for manufacturing did not take ownership or responsibility for their procedures or policies. They placed the blame directly at the feet of management and specifically, the president. The president then asked QM how many corrective actions had been written to which he answered “about one hundred”. The president then proceeded to say to Transport Canada that we had the correct intention but that “we had bitten off more than we could chew”. Instead of taking responsibility for failing to ensure all the issues were fixed, he placed the blame on me for actually finding the problems.

 

I believe the history I have documented shows a pattern. That pattern is that Alphabet Aircraft sought to hide all quality and health & safety problems that I uncovered as part of my job. There is a culture of fear perpetuated by the president. He does not want to hear of any problems. He has a history of shooting the messenger. People do not want to tell him anything because he punishes rather than tries to assist and support.  

 

The entire time I had been the Internal Auditor for Alphabet Aircraft, upper management did not take my findings seriously and did not make much of an attempt to fix anything I had found. I received no support from upper management. Personnel that were responsible to answer corrective actions had not been trained in how to answer or how to perform even basic problem solving. 

 

Finally, rumours began circulating regarding the possibility of several months of layoffs.  QM came to me and told me not to worry and that I would not be laid off. 

 

Subsequently, all the managers were sent the list of names of people who would be laid off to the president. I was told in secret by a manager that my name was not on the list. The president directed QM to add my name and to lay me off. 

 

I was then handed my layoff notice. It said it was temporary and that we would be back in 8 – 10 weeks. QM came to me and told me that I would be the first person he called back. Five months later, I received my termination letter. 

 

I was not laid-off. The recession was used as an excuse. I was terminated as retaliation by the president of Alphabet Aircraft.  I believe that he saw me as a “whistle blower” even though it was my job to find problems as an Internal Auditor.

 

 

ANONYMOUS