J.John Barnett, a former Boeing employee who publicly criticized the plane maker's production standardswas found dead in the United States, media outlets such as the BBC confirmed on Monday.
The 62-year-old man died Saturday from what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound.said officials in Charleston, South Carolina.
He was found in his truck in the parking lot of a hotel where he was staying.
At the moment of death, Barnett was in Charleston to testify in a trial against Boeing which he filed after reporting irregularities.
Last week he had been questioned by both Boeing's lawyers and his own lawyers. He was scheduled to appear again on Saturday to answer more questions, but did not attend the hearing.reported the EFE agency.
“We understand the global attention this case has attracted, and our priority is to ensure the investigation is not influenced by speculation but is guided by facts and evidence,” the Charleston Police Department said.
In a statement provided to the BBC, Boeing on Tuesday expressed its sadness at the death of its former employee.
“We are saddened by the passing of Mr. Barnett and send our condolences to his family and friends,” Boeing said.
TMZ reported that Barnett's attorney, Brian Knowles, called his client's death a “tragedy” and He questioned the suicide hypothesis.
Who was John Barnett?
John Barnett worked for 32 years at Boeing and became known for consistently expressing your concern about safety standards in the company in the production of aircraft. He retired in 2017.
According to BBC Mundo, since 2010 he served as quality manager at the North Charleston plant, where the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, a state-of-the-art airliner used primarily on long-haul routes, is manufactured.
In 2019, Barnett told the BBC that overworked Boeing employees at its South Carolina plant frequently They installed substandard parts on airplanes. It also said it discovered serious problems with oxygen systems, which could mean one in four respirators would not work properly in an emergency.
Barnett told the BBC that shortly after starting work in South Carolina, He began to worry that the rush to build new planes would rush the assembly process and jeopardize safety.
He also told the BBC that workers had not followed procedures to track components through the factory, which would have allowed faulty components to disappear.
Poor quality parts had even been taken from scrap bins and installed on planes being built to avoid delays.
Furthermore, he stated that, in some cases, poor quality parts had even been taken from scrap bins and installed on planes that were being built to avoid delays in the production line.
He said he had warned management about those problems, but the company had not taken any action.
Boeing denied Barnett's claims, but a follow-up investigation by the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) lent credence to some aspects of his allegations. A report found that more than 50 pieces could not be tracked and were lost in the company's systemUnivision reported.
After retiring, Barnett took legal action against the company. She accused him of disparaging her reputation and hindering her career because of problems she had flagged, accusations Boeing rejected.
Boeing's problems
Boeing is currently facing its biggest safety crisis since the accidents of two of its 737 Max 8 airplanes, in 2018 and 2019, in which 346 people died. A new 737 Max 9 aircraft was forced to make an emergency landing in January of this year after a cabin panel burst during an Alaska Airlines flight.
A preliminary report from the US National Transportation Safety Board suggested that four key bolts, designed to hold the door firmly in place, were not in place.
The company faces a serious challenge to regain the trust of officials and airlines
Regulators grounded 171 Max 9 planes for several weeks and are still inspecting the planemaker's production line. Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun acknowledged that the company faces a “serious challenge” to regain the trust of officials and airlines, the British newspaper The Guardian reported.
However, earlier this month, Jennifer Homendy, chairwoman of the National Transportation Safety Board, revealed that Boeing had refused to provide information to investigators working on the issue of the door plug that came loose during the Alaska Airlines flight, and had not yet provided documentation about a repair job that included removing and reinstalling the panel.
Following the Alaska Airlines plane incident, Barnett spoke to TMZ and said he wasn't surprised by the mishap. He insisted that he had witnessed Boeing turning a blind eye for years to his safety concerns. He also said the fact that Boeing's 737 Max plane was given the green light to fly again shortly after the incident was alarming.
Deceased Boeing whistleblower John Barnett interview resurfaces! ✈️
In a recent TMZ interview John Barnett spoke about the hazards and defects found in the Boeing 737 and 787. pic.twitter.com/tKvJOKAaSv
—Sky Fire News! (@SkyFireNews) March 11, 2024
This week, an incident on board a Boeing 787 once again put the spotlight on the safety of the company's planes.. According to news reports, the pilot of a Latam Airlines flight from Sydney to Auckland said he temporarily lost control of the plane amid a sudden plunge that threw passengers around the cabin. There were 50 injured, several of them had to be hospitalized.
El Comercio (Peru) / GDA
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