OAN’s James Meyers
8:50 AM -Tuesday, March 12, 2024
A Boeing whistleblower who was publicly raising doubts about the company has been found dead.
John Barnett, 62, was found deceased in his truck in the parking lot of a South Carolina hotel after he did not show up for the second part of his testimony for a major lawsuit against the company, according to multiple reports on Monday.
The reported death of Barnett comes after he raised concerns about the airline’s factories and appeared for his first testimony just days prior to being found dead from an apparent “self-inflicted” gunshot wound.
Barnett’s attorney, Brian Knowles, told TMZ that he had doubts about the circumstances of his death, and also called the self-inflicted gunshot “alleged.”
“Today is a tragic day,” Knowles told Corporate Crime Reporter. “John had been back and forth for quite some time getting prepared. The defense examined him for their allowed seven hours under the rules on Thursday.”
According to Knowles, he and his co-counsel continuously called Barnett’s phone on Saturday, but the calls went to voicemail.
“We then asked the hotel to check on him,” he said. “They found him in his truck dead from an ‘alleged’ self-inflicted gunshot. We drove to the hotel and spoke with the police and the coroner.”
Additionally, Barnett was employed by Boeing for over three decades before calling it quits in 2017. He worked as a quality control engineer at the company.
In 2019, Barnett told the outlet BBC that Boeing was rushing safety protocols to get its 787 Dreamliner jets off the production line, compromising safety.
He also alleged that the emergency oxygen systems that were made for the 787 Dreamliners had a failure rate of 25%.
Furthermore, the Whistleblower said he began noticing these issues when he began working for the company at a North Charleston plant in 2010. He claimed that he reported the issues to his managers, but did not see them take any action.
Meanwhile, Boeing failed 33 out of 89 product audits according to a New York Times report, with a total of 97 counts of alleged noncompliance.
Spirit Aerosystems, which makes the body of the 737 Max jets, failed a staggering seven out of 13 product audits.
Another eye-opening discovery was that FAA auditors also discovered mechanics were using a hotel key card to check a jet’s door, and another mechanic used Dawn dish soap as a “lubricant” in the fit-up process of the door.
Boeing now has 90 days to develop a plan of action to solve the “systemic quality-control issues” raised by the audit.
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