Boeing whistleblower who raised safety concerns found dead | 8473233 | 2024-03-16 11:08:01
A former Boeing worker who lifted the lid over the aircraft manufacturer's alleged safety problems has been found lifeless.
John Barnett, 62, died on Saturday from a 'self-inflicted wound', a South California coroner stated yesterday.
He was found in his truck at his lodge's automotive park – his dying has not been officially confirmed as a suicide.
In the days earlier than his demise, he had been giving proof in a whistleblower lawsuit towards the company in Charleston.
Charleston County Coroner advised Al Jazeera: 'Charleston Metropolis Police Department is the investigating company. No additional details are available right now.'
Barnett had worked at Boeing for 32 years – together with as a top quality manager at a North Charleston Plant – earlier than he retired in 2017.
Simply two years later, he would inform the BBC, which was the first to interrupt the information of his dying, that overworked employees intentionally fitted planes with faulty elements.
This meant one in 4 passengers aboard the Boeing 787 Dreamliner would have been left with out oxygen in the occasion of sudden decompression.
Barnett filed a whistleblower claim towards the company alleging bosses retaliated towards him for reporting the alleged defects.
Boeing denied the claims, although a federal investigation discovered 50 'non-conforming elements' had been lost within the firm's system.
But two crashes involving the Boeing 737 MAX in 2018 and 2019 which noticed 350 individuals killed introduced renewed scepticism to the aviation big's safety requirements.
This may not be the one time. On Monday, dozens of passengers suffered injuries when a Boeing aircraft heading to New Zealand suffered a 'technical event', causing it to 'freeze mid-air'.
In March, a Boeing 737 was forced to make an emergency landing in Houston, Texas, not long after takeoff when its engine caught alight.
An audit by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), spurred after a cabin door panel blew out of an Alaska Airlines-operated fight in January, examined each Alaskan airline's and Boeing's security monitor data.
The panel 'discovered multiple situations where the companies allegedly did not comply with manufacturing high quality control necessities', the company said last week.
'The FAA identified non-compliance points in Boeing's manufacturing course of management, elements handling and storage, and product control,' it added.
The January incident occurred on a Boeing 737 MAX about 16,000 ft in the air, raising questions not only about Boeing but in addition the supplier Spirit, which makes the fuselage, or body, of the 737 Max.
A prelminary National Transportation Safety Board investigation discovered that 4 bolts meant to secure the panel, referred to as a door plug, had been faraway from the jet at Boeing's Renton, Washington, manufacturing unit.
On Saturday, the Justice Division launched a legal investigation into Boeing, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Barnett's allegations weren't related to the 737 Max model concerned in the door-plug episode nor the Renton manufacturing unit.
Boeing expressed condolence at the information of Barnett's dying.
'We are saddened by Mr Barnett's passing, and our ideas are together with his family and associates,' the company stated.
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More >> https://ift.tt/zZC2anU Source: MAG NEWS