said dreamliner. >> a new airplane in a once in a decade, if not once in a generation achievement of human ingenuity.

for airline, it's cheap to fly. for passengers it offers unparalleled comfort. for boeing, it profits. >> the dreamliner is the plane of the future. but al jazeera disofrz a dark side to the dreamliner. >> unimaginable that we could be three years late, have a fleet grounding, have fires on the aeroplane. >> they are short changing the schedule. >> we uncover an aniesle blower fired as he fought for safety. >> there's no doubt that bad repairs are going out the door. >> we go behind closed doors to the factory floor to reveal a world boeing keeps secret.

>> it begins at boeing itself.

>> "this is it. the first american commercial jet capable of economical transatlantic service.

the boeing 707 jet clipper. >> since its creation in seattle nearly a century ago >> the boeing boeing had developed a reputation as a world-class engineering company. but in 1997 boeing changed. it merged with competitor, mcdonnell douglas. two companies with two very different business models. >> the merger was all about transforming our successful culture and business model into the same business model that mcdonnell douglas had used unsuccessfully >> you basically shortchange engineering, you stop doing aggressive new product developments; you run the business for cash. >> the new boeing moved its headquarters from seattle, the only home the company had ever known to chicago.

it began slashing investment in research in order to cut costs and maximize wall street returns. >> i felt it was wrong i felt it was going to take the company in the wrong direction and i thought that quality would suffer and the integrity of the product would suffer. >> i feel that that legacy and that history and that competence has been hijacked by a bunch of corporate thugs. >> by 2003 it was time to launch a new plane. but boeing's new board was reluctant to invest the billions needed. >> the board made it clear that they wanted this plane made for less money.

they wanted it made for $5 billion and they wanted partners to come in and pay the rest. it's expensive. so how do you make that happen? well you promise them that you can do it for less and then worry about the consequences later. >> boeing came up with a plan to save itself money. it would push the costs onto its major suppliers. boeing would call them partners and they would design and pay for the parts they built. boeing's job would be to assemble the plane. >> it was almost as if at times you thought boeing executives believed well maybe they could sit in chicago and have other companies do things and they would just rake in the money somehow by putting it all together and putting a boeing sticker on it at the end.

>> right on schedule boeing rolled out the dreamliner on sunday july the 8th 2007, 7-8-7. >> airlines with us today have made a big commitment to boeing and to this airplane. so far they have ordered 677 of them. >> i think in a lot of ways, july 8, 2007 was one of the more magical moments i've seen in the industry... >> watching us live around the world, broadcasting i'm told in 45 countries in 9 languages for the premier of this very exciting boeing 787 dreamliner. >> we were all inside the factory with artificial lighting big stage, tom brokaw huge screens... then they opened the doors of this giant assembly bay...

and in rolls this beautiful, beautiful aircraft. and there it is, sitting in the sun and we all stream outside and we all touch it and none of us noticed. >> smile! >> and i'm reassured by the executives involved that it's going to fly within two months. >> one two, three. >> what i realized walking around it is that you could look up in the wheel well and you could see daylight. >> we learned that the whole thing was a sham. >> beautiful isn't it? absolutely beautiful... >> they rolled out this fake airplane. >> i realized the doors were made of plywood. >> this plane that we were admiring was completely a shell inside

>> none of this would be possible, of course, without exceptional leadership. >> there's only two conclusions you can draw: you have executives there who are either lying, in which case they are clueless because they are going to get caught in two months or you have a complete disconnect between the people who are working on the plane the engineers, and the executives who are saying this. >> and so to each and every member of the 787 global team, i say, 'thank you congratulations, and keep up the great work.' >> more than any other single event it was the big lie and it was a statement that the boeing company is now all about the big lie. >> the day after the rollout wall street pushed boeing stock to a ten year high. but it was all about to unravel, as revealed in boeing's investor

calls. >> hello and welcome to our quarterly update on the 787 program. >> september 2007: boeing announces its first delay. >> it's not a failure in how the airplane goes together. it's just a really complicated puzzle." >> october 2007: the three-month delay becomes six months. >> october 2009: six months becomes two years of delays. >> we know that we can and must do better. and i'm confident that despite our setbacks we will get the 787 through the flight test program and into the hands of our customers.

>> it just kept getting worse and worse and it seemed unbelievable. you have to understand this was unprecedented. there had never been a boeing delay in a boeing program. >> the sequence of events looked an awful lot like a catastrophe rather than just a manageable series of delays. >> the dreamliner business strategy was backfiring. designed to save so much money it was costing boeing billions. >> the outsourcing plan failed very badly. all these different suppliers who were going to build these major sections couldn't actually do it. >> to fix the dreamliner boeing dispatched hundreds of quality inspectors to struggling

suppliers around the globe including to its partner alenia - in southern italy. >> we are just working through the final part of the process. >> alenia would take on the task of constructing the body of the plane. not with aluminium panels... but with composite plastic barrels. the main objective: to lose weight saving fuel and making the 787 cheaper to run. but no one had ever made anything like this before, not boeing and especially not alenia. >> there is nothing comparable with that on the market. >> there's nothing built like this. >> boeing's quality inspectors have one overriding priority, to make sure the job is done correctly. in 2009 when inspectors found flaws in parts made in this alenia plant, they ordered work to stop. a year later

in alenia's other factory they again found serious problems and again they ordered work to stop. but this time, managers overruled the quality inspectors. this internal boeing document, from 2010, reveals executives ordered alenia to "continue with fabrication... without delay." >> we followed at the time the procedure to stop but with the help of a boeing specialist at the time and while we were in the disapproved condition they took responsibility for approving the quality and we will continue to work in engineering at the time the product. >> in this separate memo obtained by al jazeera boeing states that "schedule may require deviations to the preferred quality process". we received the memos from an engineer who like many we spoke with, was afraid to appear on camera. so he answered my questions by email.

>> the quality engineer told us deviating from the process compromised safety. alenia and boeing said it did not. >> 6, 7, 8, 9, 10... >> so i brought the memo to the former president of boeing's engineers union. >> so my name is cynthia cole, c-y-n-t-h.i-a. last name is c-o-l-e. >> cynthia cole spent 32 years at the company but never on the dreamliner program so she had never seen this memo before.

>> the program schedule may require deviation to the preferred process. see? that one sentence right there, that one fragment of the sentence - you know, you don't change your quality process for schedule. you make quality happen in the schedule. they're shortchanging the engineering process to meet a schedule and they're not even allowing quality control to do their job and their telling them this is how it's going to be. i don't see how these people who write these things and agree to these things you know and the signatures down here how they sleep at night. i just don't get it. how can you do that? as an engineer i find that reprehensible. >> how does it make you feel as a flyer? >> oh, yeah. i'm not flying on a 787. that just makes, you know... because i've been kind of avoiding flying on a 787 and

seeing this, i would definitely avoid flying on a 787. real reporting that brings you the world. giving you a real global perspective like no other can. real reporting from around the world. this is what we do. al jazeera america.

>> native families divided by foster care

>> anytime they see a social worker, the immediate response is.... they're here to take my kids >> defending kids... >> they didn't protect my children, they traumatized them >> or destroying cultures >> this is about as adversarial as it gets... >> fault lines al jazeera america's hard hitting... >> today they will be arrested... >> ground breaking... they're firing canisters of gas at us... emmy award winning investigative series... the fight for native families only on al jazeera america >> if the dreamliner represents boeing's future, then i've come to the place where that future will be built. in this assembly plant in charleston south carolina.

i've been called to a meeting with a man who works inside the plant. he's taking a huge risk even talking to me. >> it's been eating me alive to know what i know and have no avenue no venue to say anything. >> at his request, we used a different voice. >> 300 souls on the plane their lives it's bigger than me. >> we had seen reports of bad workmanship in the plant. but the man claimed the problems go far deeper. >> with all the problems reported on the 787 there's 90 percent that's getting swept away...hushed up. it's an iceberg.

>> the people that actually work on it are the biggest problem. there is an uneducated under-skilled and uncaring staff that are building these planes and i'm not the only one that feels that way. >> and he was prepared to prove it wearing a camera inside the plant to record what some workers said about the dreamliner. >> ... they hire these people off the street dude. working f**king flipping burgers for a living or making sandwiches at subway... >> you can't have somebody from mcdonald's do heart surgery.

that's trusting somebody with your life. that's what we're doing here. >> i've seen a lot of things that should not go on at an airplane plant... people talking about doing drugs, looking for drugs... >> i have never seen anybody or heard of anybody having to take

a random urinalysis. as far as i know random drugs tests just don't happen. >> when boeing first announced the 787, back in 2003 nobody ever dreamt it would have been assembled anywhere but washington state. the one place boeing had always made its commercial aircraft. but new boeing was playing by new rules. so it did something it had never done before - auctioned off final assembly to the highest bidder. >> they were going to hold a competition for it.

a state against state, nationwide competition where to build this plane. i ran to my editor after i put the phone down i think it was 5:00, and i said "you're not going to believe this. they're not necessarily going to build it here." >> washington state won, but only by giving boeing what was then a record three billion dollars in tax breaks. >> "power! union power! union power! union power!" >> five years later, boeing's machinists walked off the job after contract negotiations stalled. the strike cost boeing billions and added to the dreamliner's delays. boeing stock was in a freefall amid a global economic crisis. >> ... that strike really enraged the top executives at boeing.

and so early in 2009 they made it very clear that they wanted a second assembly line somewhere else. >> that turned out to be south carolina. the state offered cheap land and labor ... close to one billion dollars in support... and no unions. >> the decision to build the second 787 assembly line in charleston south carolina was made because of the strike in 2008. they wanted to do it there because they wanted to weaken the union, and they did. >> it kind of has a shameless feel to it right? it's very manipulative and not very hometown. that's not the way you treat your people in your community, unless they're not in your community, unless you see them as a source of gains to be extracted. >> but for boeing,

leaving behind a world.class union workforce for the greener pastures of non-union charleston would come at a price. work in the plant is significantly behind schedule and plagued by production errors. >> i know of one customer they'll no longer accept planes from charleston due to quality issues. they will only accept final assembly done in everett washington. everyday when you go to work not only are you doing your job, but you are looking at the previous job to see if someone has messed something else up on that and chose not to tell anyone.

>> to be sure everything is done correctly and the plane is safe, boeing has quality assurance inspectors painstakingly check every step of the work. >> but in south carolina this inspector says he only signs off on finished jobs. >> which do you think is the

priority then, schedule or quality? >> schedule. >> we're following stories of people who died in the desert. >> the borderland marathon. >> no one's prepared for this journey. >> experience al jazeera america's critically acclaimed original series from the beginning. >> experiencing it has changed me completely. >> follow the journey as six americans face the immigration debate up close and personal. >> it's heartbreaking. >> i'm the enemy. >> i'm really pissed off. >> all of these people shouldn't be dead. >> it's insane. >> the borderland thanksgiving day marathon. on al jazeera america. inequality. and wage inequality and things and we can focus on ferguson, with michael brown and darren wilson, but this is the kind of thing that we can see, eleanor happening in any part of the country, because these

circumstances exist, particularly in suburban areas, that are now poorer than they were because they're heavily industrialized. and the people don't have the same hope that you would hope that they have.

>> if it's a constant battle between quality and schedule we found one casualty. 100's of kilometers from south carolina -- in mississippi. >> my name is john woods i'm an aerospace engineer.

i worked for general electric, lockheed boeing. >> john woods spent a career in the highly specialized field of aerospace composites. boeing hired woods knowing he had qualified psychiatric conditions. attention deficit disorder obsessive compulsive disorder, and mild depression. his job was to write instructions on how to repair parts damaged during the manufacturing process. >> it's my job to make sure that that aircraft is safe. >> woods says when he tried to enforce quality standards in the south carolina plant he was berated by his bosses. >> in a couple of meetings there were several a group of managers screaming at

me to dumb down my work instruction. saying you have to remove requirements from your work instructions. it's going to take too much time. >> woods says he witnessed damaged parts being ignored, papered over and hidden from view. >> there's no doubt there are bad repairs going out the door on the 787 aircraft. i am worried that sooner or later, there's going to be a structural failure on the fuselage. >> woods appealed to boeing's human resources department claiming he was being harassed for doing his job. instead of coming to his defense, boeing managers put woods under review. weeks later, they fired him. >> i'll never forget this. the day before i was terminated,

i was telling my brother how proud i was to be working at boeing. it's true. so instead of saying thanks for doing a good job because i thought i was doing what i was supposed to be doing. i had to leave in shame really. i was embarrassed for my own family. >> he still had not lost faith in the system. he turned to the faa - filing a whistleblower complaint. the document alleged seven serious violations in the south carolina plant.

>> so i've gotten to the page where they reached their conclusions and their discussion and what they found is of all the allegations all but one of them they could not substantiate and the one that they could substantiate they asked boeing to fix it. boeing said, "okay, we fixed it." and then they closed the investigation. that's pretty much how they all go. i've seen this so many times. >> "thank you" >> i always tell people, when they call me, they call me up with information and they say "well, i have all this information about this dangerous situation. should i blow the whistle?" i said "well, you know not unless you have a private trust fund or another job to go to because you'll have a problem earning a living." >> i had to maximize all my credit cards to survive,

to support the family. there was a lot less money for the kids for college and everything else. it shouldn't be this hard to do the right thing. >> when we looked at woods' faa complaint, we noticed a familiar name -. ali bahrami. he was the faa's man in charge of the dreamliner. in 2011, three years behind schedule, boeing celebrated final approval for the 787 to fly. and it was bahrami who signed the order. >> "thanks also in recognition for ali bahrami, manager of the faa's transport

airplane directive. ali ..." >> it was bahrami who signed off on the dreamliner batteries. and after two failed and the faa grounded the dreamliner ... it was bahrami who signed it back into the air. shortly after that he retired from the faa. two weeks later bahrami was hired as vice-president of the aerospace industries association, which lobbies on behalf of boeing. one of the first things he did was to appear before congress to call for greater self-regulation for companies like boeing. >> we urge the faa to allow greater use of delegation, not only to take full advantage of industry expertise, but to increase the collaboration that improves aviation safety." >> mr. bahrami declined our interview request. >> one day you're regulating the airline and the next day you're working for it. you can't possibly be tough on

the industry that you're regulating because you'll never get that plum job after you leave. the regulators at the faa will rarely cross boeing. they simply won't. >> it's the washington influence game -and boeing is a master. last year, the company had over 100 registered lobbyists 78 of them were former government workers. three were former members of congress. boeing chief executive jim mcnerney is chairman of president obama's export council. the president's former chief of staff came from boeing's board as did his second commerce secretary. as secretary of state, hillary clinton helped broker a 3.7 billion dollar sale of boeing planes to a russian airline. even president obama boasts that he works for boeing. >> "so i tease 'j' ever time i see him. i say, "i deserve a gold watch because i'm selling your stuff all the

time." >> "j" is jim mcnerney. it's clear what boeing gets from the u.s. government. what's not so clear is what it gives back. >> boeing paid no taxes in 2013, no federal income taxes. that's not a unique year. over the last 12 years they claimed over $1.6 billion in federal tax refunds even though they reported $43 billion in u.s. profits. >> 43 billion dollars in profit. but none of that comes from the dreamliner which has cost billions and is years away from making money. all of boeing's commercial profit comes from older aircraft those created prior to the dreamliner prior to jim mcnerney, and prior to the merger.

it has been the top executives and largest stock holders who have benefitted most. >> boeing's ceo, jim mcnerney made $27.5 million in 2012. that was enough to pay the salaries of the president of the united states, the vice president the 15 cabinet secretaries the nine supreme court justices, the seven joint chiefs of staff, and all 100 u.s. senators. >> mcnerney is set to retire with a pension of close to 250 thousand dollars a month. just before christmas 2013 boeing demanded pension cuts from its union machinists. >> for jim mcnerney to be earning a pension at approximately a quarter of a million dollars per month and think that it's okay for him to take my $2200 a month pension is outrageous. it's absolutely outrageous. >> back in south carolina, our unauthorized tour with boeing's new workforce is coming

to a close. there's only one question left to ask. >> our source asked fifteen of his co.workers if they'd fly on the dreamliner. ten said no. >> "hi mr. loftis, will jordan" "i'm sorry, will?"

"will jordan" >> workers who fear to fly the plane they build... quality process apparently loosened to speed up schedule... workers fired after making safety allegations... we needed answers from boeing. >> right now we're at a very exciting point in time we have brought our production rate up to 10 airplanes a month, faster than any airplane in aviation history and to the highest level of any wide-body airplane in aviation history. >> there's a couple of documents i want to show you here. >> i showed him the documents suggesting boeing had changed quality procedures and overruled inspectors to speed up production. mr loftis was not manager of the 787 program in 2010, when the memos were written. >> ok i am not familiar with this document. >> former boeing engineers have told us that these represent boeing essentially putting schedule ahead of quality. short-changing the engineering process to meet a schedule. is that something you recognize?

>> the number one focus that we have at boeing is ensuring the continued safe airworthinessof an airplane, the integrity of the airplane and the quality of the airplane going out. >> we've also heard directly from workers inside your south carolina plant. they paint a grim picture really of things there. they say the workforce isn't up to the job. >> i'm extremely confident in the quality of the workforce in boeing south carolina. >> the boeing workers at south carolina don't share that confidence. here's what some of them said... >> guys, guys guys. i'm gonna just call a halt here for a second. can you turn the camera off for a second? >> why would we need to turn the camera off? what's the problem? >> and then, boeing's communications director stopped the interview. >> so who are these employees that you're speaking to in south carolina that are making these points? >> i can't, obviously i can't tell you who these employees are, but they are boeing workers who assemble the planes

that you build. >> well i'm not sure it's appropriate here and now. >> well i'm assuming the buck stops with the boeing commercial airplanes management and so the most senior managers are the ones to answer this. we're here with the head of the 787 program. and we have these things that you need to hear and you need to provide a response to. >> we have not had a chance to review this or craft a proper response. >> larry larry, can you step out for a second? >> ok but, as i do. i have the highest degree of confidence in the production system we have with the employees we have at the boeing company and our supply chain. thanks. >> boeing answered our questions in writing denying it compromises safety or quality. it said our interview was hostile, unprofessional and in the worst traditions of tabloid-style

television news. the company said it was confident that its battery fix prevents failures. boeing says it uses one, common faa.approved quality system for the 787 in everett and charleston. boeing noted its memo stated it did not signify authorization to ship parts that don't meet quality requirements. boeing said it drug tests in line with company policy and applicable law. the company denies any customer has said they will only take planes from everett. as for john woods, boeing says his safety claims have "no merit". toronto. may 18 2014. air canada celebrates the delivery of its first 787. this is the modern marketing reality of the dreamliner.

>> today represents a huge milestone for air canada. we've been waiting a long time for this airplane. it's going to allow us to grow in unprecedented ways. >> because when you were eating before where did you put your ipad? >> well i think our passengers are going to be very receptive of some of the new amenities. >> i just wanna see how for it goes back. >> the windows are huge. >> we are just excited because we really genuinely love this aircraft. >> is there anything else you wanna add? >> uh, no we're very, very happy. >> from a seating point of view how is it different? >> are there more restrooms? >> but is there another reality? one revealed by a burning battery. by the words of the workers who build the planes. >> by boeing's apparent changes to its own quality protocol. boeing says the 787 has no more problems than previous models.

the faa says there's never been a safer time to fly. the dreamliner is the fastest-selling plane in the world. one day we may all find ourselves on board. when we do we will trust boeing has put quality first; we will trust the regulators have been rigorous; ultimately we will trust the plane is safe. >> it's a chilling and draconian sentence... it simply cannot stand. >> this trial was a sham... >> they are truth seekers... >> all they really wanna do is find out what's happening, so they can tell people... >> governments around the world all united to condemn this... >> as you can see, it's still a very much volatile situation...

>> the government is prepared to carry out mass array... >> if you want free press in the new democracy let the journalists live. >> this is the watts in south los angeles most people know. two and a half square miles of run down neighborhoods and housing projects controlled by rival gangs.

this is the other side of watts that most people don't see. a neighborhood of murals, street art telling the story of the city's troubled past and hopes for the future. >> you can do like the bottom piece and i could do the top and we can... >> cool. >> the great wall of watts doesn't just represent a victory for artists and curators, like warren brand, it's a rare multi-cultural collaboration. >> we've got one artist over here who's latino, we've got another artist over here who's african american and we're in the middle of watts. >> yeah. >> traditionally two groups of people that are kind of considered enemies here. >> i tried to figure out, okay what's the best message we could send and to me, equality, unity, friendship, you know, teamwork. >> the project is also brining together students from different schools. >> latinos and blacks don't really get along but like today, like this day we see that we are getting along. >> the hope is that once this mural is completed, it will help change the narrative of this troubled neighborhood, telling

all who see it of that day when the blacks and latinos came together, worked side by side, to meet in the middle. >> i'm randall pinkston in new york. john seigenthaler has the night off. for most of the night it's been relatively calm. that changed moments ago. a crowd overturned the police car, setting fire to it outside city hall. tonight the protests spread across the country. thousands in dozens of cities marching peacefully in solidarity over the grand jury's decision not to indict a police officer in