An elderly Boeing whistleblower has been found dead under mysterious circumstances. John Barnett, who was 62 years old at the time of his death, had worked at the aviation company for 32 years up until his retirement in 2017. He primarily worked as a quality manager at the North Charleston plant, making the 787 Dreamliner aircraft from 2010 and on.
According to police reports, Barnett was found dead at his home in the United States from a from a “self-inflicted gunshot wound.” In the days leading up to his death, Barnett had been cooperating and providing evidence in a whistleblower lawsuit against the company.
Barnett had built a reputation as a whistleblower, whose revelations rocked the aerospace giant by bringing their production standards into critical view. He also played a pivotal role in exposing damning information about Boeing’s questionable practices. One of his most notable battles with the company arose in 2019, when Barnett accused Boeing of “deliberately fitting sub-standard parts to aircraft on the production line.”
Details surrounding the death are scarce, but sources close to the investigation suggest foul play may be at play. Was this a tragic accident or a calculated move to silence a voice of dissent?
The timing of the whistleblower’s death is particularly chilling, coming on the heels of mounting scrutiny over Boeing’s safety record and corporate culture. Barnett had previously accused the company of a litany of serious safety violations in the past. Among the complaints Barnett submitted, he alleged emergency oxygen systems due to be fitted to the 787 showed a failure rate of 25 percent, in addition to claiming sub-standard parts were removed from scrap bins and fitted to planes on the production line.
While Boeing has denied Barnett’s claims, records show a 2017 review conducted by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) upheld some of his claims. Additionally, news of Barnett’s death follows the incident from in early January, when an unused emergency exit door blew off a brand-new Boeing 737 Max shortly after take-off from Portland International Airport.
Not to mention the FAA recently revealed six-week audit of the company returned evidence of “multiple instances where the company allegedly failed to comply with manufacturing quality control requirements”.