Concern has been expressed online about the unexpected death of John Barnett, a former Boeing employee who decided to blow the whistle. He was reportedly concerned about potential safety risks at Boeing. After 32 years at the company, Barnett retired in 2017.
In 2019, Barnett filed a lawsuit against the company, saying that management had ignored his safety warnings over the use of substandard materials and shortcuts in the building of aircraft. However, Boeing has publicly denied all of Barnett’s allegations.
According to Barnett, the South Carolina company routinely equipped aircraft with poor components. Oxygen masks may not work due to malfunctioning oxygen systems. Barnett claimed knowledge of manufacturing employees assembling aircraft using components salvaged from scraps in at least one instance.
According to the Charleston County Coroner, Barnett was discovered dead on March 9th from a gunshot wound that he had allegedly inflicted on himself. Barnett was testifying in a lengthy whistleblower lawsuit against Boeing when he died away. Legal interviews related to the case brought him to Charleston, and he was anticipated to face more questioning. He was discovered in his vehicle in a hotel parking lot after he failed to appear for further testimony.
Reports show that Boeing failed 33 of the 89 product checks the Federal Aviation Administration recently made after a panel blowout during an Alaska Airlines flight in January.
According to a presentation from the FAA, the federal agency discovered many issues with Boeing’s 737 Max manufacturing during a six-week examination. The agency also found several examples of Boeing and a former subsidiary, Spirit AeroSystems, not following quality-control regulations.
According to the presentation, out of the 89 component audits, 56 were passed by Boeing, and 33 were rejected. The FAA reportedly discovered 97 cases of noncompliance.
