An ex-quality control manager at Boeing who blew the whistle on his old employer after retirement by claiming that Boeing manufacturing practices were endangering the public has reportedly died by suicide.
John Barnett worked at Boeing for 32 years and was in the process of giving his deposition in a whistleblower retaliation suit stemming from his allegations when he was found dead in his truck Friday with a gunshot wound that law enforcement authorities said was “self-inflicted,” Red State reported.
Barnett was in charge of identifying defects in the manufacturing process of plane production lines. In an interview with TMZ, Barnett claimed to have witnessed the results of what he claimed was the company’s turn to cutting back on quality control in order to increase profits.
“My concerns are with the 737 and the 787 because those programs have really embraced the theory that quality is overhead and non-value added. So those two programs have really put a strong effort into removing quality from the process.”
Barnett’s death comes as Boeing aircraft, particularly the 737 Max and the 787, have made headlines due to various safety-related issues. As The Dallas Express reported, 737s have experienced a door-hatch blowing off, an engine catching on fire, a wing falling apart, and a crack in the windshield, all in the last three months.
And just this Monday, a 787 Dreamliner flight from Sydney to Santiago experienced a technical problem that threw unsecured passengers into the roof of the plane, injuring 50.
The apparent surge in incidents involving Boeing planes has some pointing out that they coincide with the company, as well as the greater airline industry, emphasizing DEI principles in their hiring practices and company culture.
In the TMZ video, Barnett claims that Boeing started to compromise on inspection operations beginning in 2012. In 2014, an Al Jazeera reporter armed with a hidden camera went into the South Carolina plant where the 787 Dreamliner is built and found that 10 out of 15 workers at the plant said they would not fly on the planes they built.
Boeing denied Barnett’s allegations, but in 2017, the Federal Aviation Association found that the whistleblower’s claims had merit, per Zero Hedge.
On Tuesday, the company said it would work with employees who had violated manufacturing procedures to ensure that they understand how to comply with instructions, according to the Associated Press.