OAN’s Brooke Mallory
11:23 AM – Thursday, May 2, 2024
Just two months after another employee allegedly died by suicide after voicing concerns about the company, a second Boeing whistleblower who revealed that one of the carrier’s suppliers was neglecting manufacturing flaws has now died unexpectedly as well on Tuesday.
According to The Seattle Times, 45-year-old Joshua Dean, a former quality auditor for Spirit AeroSystems, passed away on Tuesday morning from a mysterious infection that was rapidly spreading.
Prior to his hospital admission almost two weeks ago, Dean, a resident of Wichita, Kansas, was said to be in very good health, according to the outlet.
But by April 21st, the site reported that he was in “very critical condition” and had tested positive for pneumonia, MRSA, and influenza B.
After receiving dialysis and being intubated, Dean was evacuated to a different hospital located in Oklahoma City. According to a CT scan, he had also experienced a stroke.
Additionally, doctors had been debating amputating Dean’s hands and feet shortly before he passed away since they had turned black due to infection, which confused both his family and a team of medical professionals.
“He is in the worst condition I have ever known or heard of. Even the hospital agrees,” Kristen Dean, his sister-in-law, wrote on Facebook.
Dean sadly died on Tuesday.
While employed at Spirit Aerosystems in 2022, a Kansas-based business that produces aircraft parts for Boeing, Dean had consistently voiced concerns about a number of flaws and defects. He lost his job less than a year later.
“I think they were sending out a message to anybody else,” Dean told NPR. “If you are too loud, we will silence you.”
According to The Seattle Times, Dean, a quality auditor for Spirit since 2019, expressed a number of issues regarding parts for Boeing 373 Max aircrafts that had bulkhead holes drilled incorrectly.
However, he claimed that bringing up the topic with his upper management had no bearing. In one instance, a 33-year-old Delta Boeing 767 jet that Dean brought to the attention of management was far older than the average age of any airliner currently in service.
Dean also said that he missed another problem with fittings between the aircraft’s vertical tail fin and fuselage because he was forced to be overly preoccupied with the incorrectly drilled pieces. The problem was ultimately found, but Dean still lost his job as a result of voicing these concerns, he said previously.
Spirit Aerosystems eventually admitted the issues in relation to the incorrectly placed drillings. “Both issues caused delays at Boeing manufacturing plants,” The Post reported.
Dean later complained to the FAA, maintaining that he was used as a scapegoat by Spirit in an attempt to conceal the Boeing production issues, despite his evidence that he and other employees were instructed to minimize any concerns they noticed.
Nevertheless, Dean filed a wrongful termination lawsuit with the Department of Labor in November 2023. The outlet stated that at the time of his passing, the lawsuit was still unresolved.
In January, after a door hatch on an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 Max 9 flew off, a former coworker of Dean’s confirmed his allegations to The Seattle Times.
“It is known at Spirit that if you make too much noise and cause too much trouble, you will be moved,” Dean told The Wall Street Journal. “It doesn’t mean you completely disregard stuff, but they don’t want you to find everything and write it up.”
Less than two months have passed since the first Boeing whistleblower, John Barnett, passed away in March from what authorities claim was a “self-inflicted gunshot wound.”
Police say that they are still looking into Barnett’s death after his attorneys called for an investigation. His attorneys said: “We didn’t see any indication he would take his own life… No one can believe it,” calling for a more thorough examination.
Stay informed! Receive breaking news blasts directly to your inbox for free. Subscribe here. https://www.oann.com/alerts