Who was John Barnett? All about the Boeing whistleblower found dead inside his truck

John Barnett, a 62-year-old former quality manager for Boeing, who was giving evidence in a whistleblower lawsuit against the company, was reportedly found dead from a "self-inflicted" wound on Saturday, March 9, 2024.

According to multiple reports, shortly before his death, Barnett was in Charleston, where he was being deposed in connection to the lawsuit against Boeing. Barnett was due to undergo further questioning on Saturday, March 9, but did not appear at the location. As a result, inquiries were made at his hotel.

He was later found dead in his truck in the hotel car park.

The Charleston County coroner has since confirmed that he died from a "self-inflicted" wound, BBC reported.

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John Barnett accused Boeing of compromising safety to prevent delays in production line

John Barnett worked at Boeing for 32 years as a quality manager. In 2010, he began working at the North Charleston plant, responsible for producing the cutting-edge 787 Dreamliner until his retirement in 2017 over undisclosed health concerns, per the BBC.

At the end of his tenure, Barnett raised concerns about the company’s production standards, accusing them of cutting corners to accelerate output at the risk of compromising safety.

In 2019, he told BBC that under-pressure workers were deliberately fitting sub-standard parts in the aircraft on the production line, including the oxygen systems. This meant meant one in four breathing masks would not potentially work in an emergency, per The Hill.

Barnett, who worked as a quality manager at the North Charleston plant making the 787 Dreamliner, in 2010, said that after starting work in South Carolina, he noticed the assembly process was rushed and safety was compromised, including in some cases, sub-standard parts being removed from scrap bins and fitted to aircraft to prevent delays on the production line, according to the BBC.

He also alleged that aircraft workers had failed to follow procedures intended to track components, allowing defective components to go missing from the factory. Barnett told BBC that when he raised concerns with managers, they failed to pay heed to them.

According to BBC, while Boeing had denied the allegations, a 2017 review by the US regulator, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), found some of Mr Barnett's concerns held merit after discovering that the location of at least 53 "non-conforming" parts in the factory was unknown.

Last week, the FAA said a six-week audit of the company had found "multiple instances where the company allegedly failed to comply with manufacturing quality control requirements" after an unused emergency exit door blew off a brand-new Boeing 737 Max shortly after take-off from Portland International Airport early January.

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In 2019, John Barnett accused Boeing of cutting corners for a quick profit

In an interview with Corporate Crime Reporter in 2019 John Barnett accused the company of cutting corners for a quick profit.

“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.”

Barnett provided a similar testimony when he was deposed last week. He was slated to be deposed for a second time on Saturday before he was found dead in his truck at his hotel’s parking lot.

According to Aljazeera, the Seattle-based aircraft manufacturer Boeing expressed their condolences at the news of John Barnett’s death.