- Written by Theo Leggett
- BBC News business correspondent
image source, Getty Images
A former Boeing employee known for raising concerns about the company's production standards has been found dead in the United States.
John Barnett worked for Boeing for 32 years before retiring in 2017.
Days before his death, he had given evidence in a whistleblower case against the company.
Boeing said it was saddened to hear of Barnett's death. The Charleston County coroner confirmed his death to the BBC on Monday.
The 62-year-old man died on March 9 from “self-inflicted” wounds and police are investigating, the paper said.
Barnett worked for the American aviation giant for 32 years before retiring for health reasons in 2017.
Starting in 2010, he worked as a quality manager at the North Charleston plant, which manufactures the 787 Dreamliner, a state-of-the-art airliner used primarily on long-haul routes.
He also said serious problems were found with the oxygen system, which could cause one in four breathing masks to fail in an emergency.
He said that soon after he started working in South Carolina, he became concerned that the push to build new planes would speed up the assembly process and compromise safety, something the company has not done. I denied it.
image source, john burnett
John Barnett was a former quality control manager at the Boeing Company.
He later told the BBC that the defective parts went missing because employees did not follow procedures to trace them within the factory.
In some cases, he said, substandard parts were taken from scrap bins and installed on planes under construction to prevent production line delays.
He also claimed that tests of the emergency oxygen system that will be installed on the 787 aircraft showed a failure rate of 25%, meaning one in four people could fail to deploy in a real-world emergency. .
Barnett said he raised his concerns with management, but no action was taken.
Boeing denied his claims. But a 2017 study by U.S. regulator the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) supported some of Barnett's concerns.
It was established that the location of at least 53 “nonconforming” parts in the factory was unknown and that they were considered lost. Boeing was ordered to take corrective action.
Regarding the oxygen cylinder issue, the company said in 2017 that it had “confirmed that some of the oxygen cylinders we received from our suppliers were not properly deployed.” However, he denied that they were actually installed on the aircraft.
After leaving the company, he embarked on a lengthy lawsuit against the company.
He blamed the problems he cited for tarnishing his character and hindering his career, but Boeing dismissed the charges.
At the time of his death, Mr. Barnett was in Charleston for legal interviews related to the case.
He filed a formal affidavit last week that was cross-examined by Boeing's lawyers before being cross-examined by his own lawyer.
He was scheduled for further questioning on Saturday. When he did not appear, inquiries were made to his hotel.
He was later found dead in his truck in a hotel parking lot.
His lawyer, speaking to the BBC, described his death as “tragic”.
Boeing said in a statement: “We are saddened by the passing of Mr. Barnett and our thoughts are with his family and friends.”
His death comes as the production standards of both Boeing and its major supplier Spirit AeroSystems come under intense scrutiny.
This follows an incident in early January when a brand new Boeing 737 Max was blown off by an unused emergency exit door shortly after takeoff from Portland International Airport.
A preliminary report from the National Transportation Safety Board suggests that four key bolts designed to securely hold the door in place were not installed.
The FAA announced last week that a six-week audit of the company found “multiple instances of the company's alleged failure to comply with manufacturing quality control requirements.”
