Former Boeing employee John Barnett, who was known for acting as a whistleblower in regard to the company’s inadequate production standards, has been found dead in Charleston County, South Carolina.
The 62-year-old retiree had been providing evidence to a whistleblower lawsuit against the aircraft technology producer, which is also the fourth-largest defense contractor in the world. But then he was suddenly found dead on March 9 in his truck in the parking lot of a hotel at which he was staying. The Charleston County Coroner’s office said he died from a “what appears to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound.”
The county coroner announced him dead to the press on Monday. Police are currently investigating the situation.
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His lawyer Brian Knowles told Corporate Crime Reporter he “had been back and forth for quite some time getting prepared” and that he was about to get cross-examined for “day three of his deposition here in Charleston on his AIR21 case,” meaning the Federal Aviation Administration’s Whistleblower Protection Program. Knowles wrote:
“Today is a tragic day. 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. I cross examined him all day yesterday (Friday) and did not finish. We agreed to continue this morning at 10 a.m. (co-counsel) Rob (Turkewitz) kept calling this morning and his (Barnett’s) phone would go to voicemail. We then asked the hotel to check on him. 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.”
NEW: 62-year-old Boeing whistleblower John Barnett found dead in his truck after he didn't show up for a legal interview linked to a case against Boeing.
Barnett worked for Boeing for 32 years and retired in 2017. After retiring, Barnett spoke out about how Boeing was cutting… pic.twitter.com/k3zOqH0REv
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) March 11, 2024
Barnett, who lived in Louisiana, was visiting South Carolina to give evidence in legal proceedings as part of a defamation suit against Boeing. Specifically, Barnett was claiming his past allegations of safety violations at Boeing were used against him, damaging his career and reputation.
Barnett had worked at Boeing for 32 years, retiring in 2017. He worked at a facility in Everett, Washington for 28 years. From 2010 on, he was a quality manager at a plant in North Charleston which was producing the 787 Dreamliner long-haul plane. In 2019, Barnett was interviewed by the BBC about the Dreamliner’s defective oxygen systems, which could leave passengers without air if the cabin experienced a sharp decompression. According to Barnett, the parts were applied to the plane intentionally and without regard to the safety risks.
At that time, he told Corporate Crime Reporter that Boeing North Charleston’s “new leadership didn’t understand processes. … They brought them in from other areas of the company. The new leadership team – from my director down – they all came from St. Louis, Missouri. They said they were all buddies there.” He went on:
“That entire team came down. They were from the military side. My impression was their mindset was – we are going to do it the way we want to do it. Their motto at the time was – we are in Charleston and we can do anything we want.
They started pressuring us to not document defects, to work outside the procedures, to allow defective material to be installed without being corrected. They started bypassing procedures and not maintaining configurement control of airplanes, not maintaining control of non-conforming parts – they just wanted to get the planes pushed out the door and make the cash register ring.”
Over the last several weeks, Barnett had been speaking to the press about Boeing issues, such as the mid-air door plug blowout on the Alaska Airlines flight in January as well as the discovery of “mis-drilled holes” in new 737 MAX Jets. “Once you understand what’s happening inside of Boeing, you’ll see why we’re seeing these kinds of issues,” he told ABC News Australia on January 29th.
Following the news, Boeing shares suffered a two percent drop Tuesday morning.
Shane Devine is a writer covering politics, economics, and culture for Valuetainment. Follow Shane on X (Twitter).
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