John Barnett, 62, worked for Boeing for 32 years. Before he retired in 2017, he worked as a quality manager at the Boeing factory in North Charleston, South Carolina, where he was involved in the development of the 787 Dreamliner.
Barnett was recently involved in a whistleblower lawsuit against Boeing, accusing the company of retaliating against him for detailing possible safety problems at the aerospace and defense company’s factories. He was poised to continue his pretrial deposition last week, but he did not appear.
Barnett was found dead in his truck outside a hotel in South Carolina on Saturday.
report BBC.
The Charleston County coroner told the BBC that the Boeing whistleblower died of “self-inflicted injuries” and that police were investigating.
Mr Barnett’s lawyer Brian Knowles said:
Said The corporate crime reporter said his client was “supposed to do his third day of depositions here in Charleston on the AIR21 case.”
“Today is a tragic day,” Knowles wrote. “John has been going back and forth preparing for quite some time. On Thursday, the defense conducted the seven hours of cross-examination allowed by regulations. I cross-examined him all day yesterday (Friday) and it never ended. We agreed to proceed this morning.” This morning at 10 a.m. (co-counsel) Rob (Turkewicz) kept calling and his (Barnett’s) phone went to voicemail. ”
Ms Knowles said she asked the hotel to check on Mr Barnett after repeated attempts to call him were unsuccessful.
“They found him dead in his truck from a ‘suspected’ self-inflicted gunshot wound,” Knowles said.
Barnett’s lawsuit alleges that the workers used “substandard” parts on the Boeing 787 and that leadership covered up the failures to save money.
report Daily Mail.
barnet
Said The BBC reported in 2019 that up to 25% of the 787 Dreamliner’s oxygen systems are defective and may not function when needed. He also suggested that defective parts were intentionally installed on planes at Boeing factories, and in at least one case claimed that plane parts were sourced from scrap bins.
“As a quality controller at Boeing, you are the last line of defense before defects leak into the aircraft,” the whistleblower said.
Said In 2019, The New York Times said, “We have yet to see enough planes leave Charleston to call it safe and flyable.”
Although the company denied the allegations, some of Barnett’s concerns were said to be:
proven According to a 2017 Federal Aviation Administration review.
Barnett has been critical of Boeing in recent years, especially as various malfunctions and production concerns have made headlines.
For example, when asked about the following:
1.5 incident “It’s not a 737 problem, it’s a Boeing problem,” Burnett told TMZ after the Boeing 737 Max 9 passenger plane’s door plug came off while climbing.
“I know the FAA does due diligence and inspections to make sure the door plugs on the 737 are properly installed and the fasteners are properly installed, but my concern is… .I mean, what’s going on with the rest of the plane?” Barnett said.
Boeing said in a statement: “We are saddened by the passing of Mr. Barnett and our thoughts are with his family and friends.”
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