A Boeing whistleblower, who raised concerns about aircraft safety before accusing the airline of hindering his career in 2017, was reportedly found dead on Saturday as he was due to testify against his ex -employer.
According to initial reports, John Barnett, 62, died of “self-inflicted” injuries, but an investigation is currently underway to shed light on the circumstances of the death, a Charleston County coroner confirmed to the BBC on Monday .
On Saturday, the sixty-year-old, who had worked for Boeing for 32 years, was to appear in court for a second interrogation of the week against his ex-employer, when he was allegedly found dead in his vehicle, parked in front of a hotel , according to the British media.
Upon retiring in 2017, the former employee filed a lawsuit against the company, which he accused of denigrating his character and hindering his career after he reported safety concerns to his superiors in the years previous ones.
In an interview with the BBC in 2019, the whistleblower alleged in particular that the company pressured its employees to build aircraft more quickly, to the point where the assembly process was rushed and safety compromised, according to him. .
He noted in particular that certain employees had deliberately installed inferior parts on certain planes so as not to slow down the production line and that he had discovered serious problems with a quarter of the company’s emergency oxygen masks, recalled the BBC.
Some of his statements were confirmed in 2017 by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which discovered that at least 53 parts deemed “non-compliant” had disappeared, and that “certain oxygen bottles received from the supplier which did not deploy not correctly,” according to the British media.
Boeing, however, has denied using these faulty bottles in its aircraft.
For its part, the company, which has found itself in hot water since a door of one of its planes tore off in mid-flight last January, would have limited itself to offering its condolences to the relatives of John Barnett, saying she was “saddened” by his death.
The company is currently the subject of a class action and a second lawsuit from passengers on Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 for damages suffered during the incident.
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