Another Boeing-linked company, another whistleblower lawsuit. Wisk Aero — Boeing’s electric air taxi subsidiary — is being sued by a former software manager who says she was fired for raising safety red flags.
Briahna O’Neill filed the suit in Santa Clara Superior Court this week. Her claim? Wisk pressured engineers to cut corners on FAA-required software testing to hit a 2025 flight test deadline. She filed two internal safety reports about it. Weeks after the second one, she was fired.
Wisk is developing fully autonomous electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft. It’s one of eight companies approved by the FAA earlier this year for a three-year testing program. Autonomy makes the software safety question even more critical — there’s no pilot to compensate for bad code.
Boeing declined to comment. Wisk says it can’t comment on ongoing litigation. The Seattle Times first reported the lawsuit.
The pattern is hard to ignore. Boeing’s safety culture has been under a microscope since the 737 MAX disasters. Now one of its subsidiaries faces allegations that it rushed software testing and retaliated against the person who spoke up.
