Whistleblowers at Boeing and its subcontractors continue to voice concerns about aircraft safety following the unexpected deaths of two colleagues who had also spoken out.
At least three people have come forward so far, and others are considering the risk of raising concerns about civilian and military aircraft production.
Earlier this year, two whistleblowers who had spoken out against the aerospace giant were killed in unrelated incidents.
According to police in Charleston, South Carolina, suspect John Barnett, 62, shot himself in the head in his truck shortly after testifying in a whistleblower lawsuit against the company.
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This National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) handout shows plastic covering the outside of a fuselage plug on Alaska Airlines Flight 1282, a Boeing 737-9 MAX, in Portland, Oregon, on January 7, 2024. Ten minutes after Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 took off from Portland, Oregon, on January 5, bound for Ontario, California, a door-sized section near the rear of the Boeing 737-9 MAX aircraft blew off. (NTSB via Getty Images)
Joshua Dean, 44, who died last month after an antibiotic-resistant infection destroyed his lungs, worked for Spirit AeroSystems, a Boeing supplier.
Dean lost his job in 2023 after filing a retaliation complaint with federal labor regulators, alleging he was fired simply for speaking out. He testified in connection with a shareholder lawsuit reporting dangerous defects in parts of Boeing’s 737 MAX jets, which relate to several models. Disaster in recent years.
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Boeing Chief Executive Officer Dave Calhoun has announced he will step down at the end of the year, in a move that has come as other executives and directors, including the head of the 737 Max program, also leave the company. (Fox News Live)
Attorneys Brian Knowles and Rob Turkewitz, who represent several current and former Boeing employees who have come forward in recent months, praised their clients for speaking out.
“We’re in a very difficult position,” said Santiago Paredes, another Spirit AeroSystems employee. “Fox & Friends First” Last month, he said his superiors pressured him to fabricate “false information” about defects in 737 planes. In a separate interview, he New York Post He faced opposition over hundreds of problems, including missing or broken parts and poorly assembled frames.
Spirit AeroSystems disputes Paredes’ claims.
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Roy Irvin, who worked with Barnett at the South Carolina plant, told The Washington Post that he found problems like missing safety devices and loose bolts on an almost daily basis.
“If the fasteners are not properly secured, they will come loose and you will lose control of the plane,” he told the paper.
This photo taken on Nov. 13, 2023, shows the fuselage and one of the engines of a Boeing 777-9 jetliner parked on the runway during the 2023 Dubai Airshow at Dubai World Central – Al Maktoum International Airport in Dubai. (GIUSEPPE CACACE/AFP via Getty Images)
Boeing whistleblower John Barnett claims managers surveilled and harassed him in lawsuit
Another whistleblower, Boeing engineer Martin Bickebohler, said two complaints dating back to 2014 had been substantiated by the Federal Aviation Administration. Seattle TimesHe filed a new lawsuit in January alleging the company failed to take corrective measures ordered by the government.
Before his death, Barnett claimed he learned of the problems while working at Boeing’s North Charleston plant in 2010 and raised them with management to no avail. Rather than addressing the issues, his lawyers argue, the company retaliated against him and subjected him to a hostile work environment, leading to the lawsuit that is the subject of a deposition.
The Boeing 787 Dreamliner will be built at the company’s assembly plant in North Charleston, South Carolina, on May 30, 2023. The plant is located on the shared campus of Charleston Air Force Base and Charleston International Airport. (Juliette Michel/AFP via Getty Images)
of Federal Aviation Administration A 2017 investigation into Boeing corroborated some of Barnett’s allegations and ordered the company to take action. The Securities and Exchange Commission launched its own investigation last month, and the National Transportation Safety Board is looking into separate incidents, including one in January when a 737-9 Max door blew off in flight.
FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker met with a Senate committee last week to discuss Boeing’s continuing woes, and the administration has called on Boeing to step up oversight of its suppliers, including adding safety inspectors to Spirit AeroSystems facilities and conducting internal audits.
“The FAA will ensure that they do so and that their fixes are effective,” he said in a later statement. “This does not mean the end of our increased oversight of Boeing and its suppliers, but it does set a new standard for how Boeing does business.”
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He met separately with Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun.
“This underscores the need for a strong and unwavering commitment to safety – safety always comes first,” Whitaker said. “Systemic change is not easy, but in this case it is absolutely necessary. Whether we’re talking about Boeing, the airlines or the FAA, the work on passenger safety is never done.”
Calhoun previously He will resign He is due to leave at the end of the year. Other executives and directors, including the head of the 737 MAX program, are also leaving the company in the aftermath.
Boeing did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
