John Barnett has been with Boeing for more than 30 years
John Barnett, a former Boeing employee who questioned the plane company’s production standards, has been found dead in the United States, the BBC reported on Tuesday. The 62-year-old died of a “self-inflicted injury” on March 9, the Charleston County coroner told the BBC.
Barnett worked at boeing company He worked for more than 30 years before retiring due to health reasons in 2017.
He recently gave evidence in a whistleblower lawsuit against the U.S. plane maker, which has suffered a series of safety issues in recent years, including crashes of Lion Air and Ethiopian Airlines 737 MAX aircraft in 2018 and 2019 that killed more than 350 people die. people.
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In 2019, John told the BBC that “workers under pressure” deliberately installed “substandard parts” on Boeing aircraft on the production line.
Barnett claimed he had discovered a serious problem with the oxygen system, which could mean a quarter of the respirators would not work in an emergency.
He also told the BBC that workers failed to follow the factory’s procedures for tracking parts, resulting in defective parts being lost. He said he informed administrators of the concerns but they took no action.
Boeing production quality under the scanner
Days after John Barnett’s death, the United States conducted an audit after a mid-cabin door jam blew out of the plane. Alaska Airlines flights In January, Boeing and Spirit AeroSystems discovered multiple violations.
this Federal Aviation Administration The FAA’s six-week audit of the two manufacturers following the Jan. 5 incident “identified multiple instances of the companies’ alleged failure to comply with manufacturing quality control requirements.”
“The FAA identified noncompliance issues with Boeing’s manufacturing process controls, parts handling and storage, and product controls,” the FAA said in an official statement.
A 737 MAX operated by Alaska Airlines had a fuselage panel explode during flight, leaving a large hole in the cabin and triggering an emergency landing.
Boeing executives also met with Federal Aviation Administration Administrator Mike Whitaker, who gave the company 90 days to address quality control issues.
In order to hold the company accountable for its production quality issues, the FAA has also halted the expansion of Boeing 737 MAX production and is exploring the use of a third party to conduct independent reviews of the quality system.
