I sure hope the ten new Boeing whistleblowers have their life insurance policies paid up. Haha, just kidding. Mostly.
John Barnett, 62, a quality control engineer at Boeing for 32 years, and a witness in ongoing litigation, was found dead at a hotel in March, reportedly from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. He was found in his truck while staying at a hotel while in town to give a deposition in the case. It seemed like a strange time to kill himself.
Here’s a link to a recent clip where Mr. Barnett discussed some of the serious problems with a Spirit Airlines Boeing inspection. He told The Wall Street Journal in January that Boeing fired him in April 2023 for pointing out that holes in jet fuselages were drilled wrong. He was quite chatty about Boeing’s many safety problems, actually.
Then last week, the whistleblower bodycount ticked up again after Joshua Dean, 45, who worked as a quality auditor at Spirit AeroSystems, died suddenly after a “short illness.” The healthy, athletic auditor and whistleblower had an ‘active lifestyle.’ But alas, he died in the hospital after getting a “fast-moving infection” arising from the flu, which quickly became MRSA, and then he got pneumonia on top of all that and it was all over.
The lawyers for the two dead whistleblowers told The Independent of at least ten more Boeing whistleblowers, both former and current employees who, the lawyers emphasized, are not suicidal and are “safe and sound.” Hopefully they’re in witness protection.
Ain't the first time that has ever happened particularly when you are in a hospital for any period of time.
That’s all very sensational, but has nothing to do with bad piloting and bad maintenance.
[were drilled wrong]
That doesn’t surprise me, but not about fuselages.