Boeing whistleblower found dead in hotel parking lot just days after testifying against airplane giant
A Boeing whistleblower was found dead in his truck in the parking lot of his South Carolina hotel after he failed to show up for the second part of his testimony for a bombshell lawsuit against the company, a report said Monday.
John Barnett, 62, had raised safety concerns at the airline’s factories and provided his first testimony just days before he was found dead from an apparent “self-inflicted” gunshot wound, the Charleston County coroner told the BBC.
Barnett’s attorney, Brian Knowles, told TMZ that he had explicit doubt about the circumstances of his death, and 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.”
The whistleblower had been staying at the hotel to provide a deposition in a whistleblower lawsuit against the company.
His lawyer said he and his co-counsel had been calling 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.”
An email to Knowles was not immediately returned Monday night.
Barnett had worked for Boeing for over three decades before retiring in 2017.
He worked as a quality control engineer. In 2019, Barnett told the BBC that Boeing had compromised safety by rushing to get its 787 Dreamliner jets off the production line.
Boeing released a statement on Barnett’s death.
“We are saddened by Mr. Barnett’s passing, and our thoughts are with his family and friends,” the statement read.
The company has been under heightened scrutiny in recent months due to a myriad of issues on its planes, including in January when a door plug blew out during an Alaska Airlines flight.
Following the Jan. 5 mid-air fiasco, the Federal Aviation Administration discovered “unacceptable” quality control issues during an audit into Boeing and supplier Spirit AeroSystems.
The FAA did not share its findings with the public, but according to a New York Times report, its findings revealed a troubling and inconsistent manufacturing process.
Auditors found that Boeing failed 33 out of 89 product audits — a review of specific aspects in the production line — with a total of 97 counts of alleged noncompliance, according to the newspaper.
Spirit AeroSystems, which makes the body of the 737 Max jets, failed seven out of 13 product audits. One of its noted failures had to do with the installation of the aircraft’s door plug.
FAA auditors also discovered mechanics from the company using a hotel key card to check a jet’s door, while another mechanic used Dawn dish soap as a “lubricant” in the fit-up process of the door.
Boeing told the Times the company is “reviewing all identified nonconformities for corrective action.”
The company has 90 days to develop a comprehensive plan of action to address the “systemic quality-control issues” raised by the audit.
The National Transportation Safety Board is also investigating the horrifying door panel blow-out and the Justice Department has opened a criminal probe into Boeing.
