Former Boeing employee John Barnett, known for raising concerns about the aircraft company’s production standards, was found dead in the US. The 62-year-old died from a “self-inflicted” wound on March 9, as confirmed by the Charleston County coroner to the BBC.
Barnett had a long career at Boeing, spanning over 30 years before his retirement in 2017 due to health reasons. Recently, he had been providing evidence in a whistleblower lawsuit against Boeing, which has faced several safety issues, including the 737 MAX crashes in 2018 and 2019 that claimed over 350 lives.
In a 2019 interview with the BBC, Barnett had highlighted the pressure faced by workers to fit “sub-standard parts” to Boeing aircraft, as well as serious problems with oxygen systems that could render one in four breathing masks ineffective in an emergency. He also raised concerns about the failure of workers to follow procedures intended to track components, leading to defective components being unaccounted for. Despite alerting managers about these issues, no action was taken.
Barnett’s death comes shortly after a US audit following an incident in January where a mid-cabin door plug blew out of an Alaska Airlines flight, revealing multiple instances of non-compliance at Boeing and Spirit AeroSystems. The FAA identified issues in Boeing’s manufacturing process control, parts handling and storage, and product control.
In response to these quality control problems, the FAA has halted production expansion of the Boeing 737 MAX and is considering using a third party to conduct independent reviews of quality systems.