A former Boeing employee who became a whistleblower against the company has been found dead amidst a lawsuit he had been aiding.
John Barnett died on March 9 at the age of 62 from what police have described as a “self-inflicted wound. Prior to his death, he had “been giving evidence in a whistleblower lawsuit against the company,” per the BBC. Barnett had retired from the company in 2017 for health reasons after working with Boeing for 32 years. The BBC writes:
From 2010, he worked as a quality manager at the North Charleston plant making the 787 Dreamliner, a state-of-the-art airliner used mainly on long-haul routes.
In 2019, Mr. Barnett told the BBC that under-pressure workers had been deliberately fitting sub-standard parts to aircraft on the production line.
He also said he had uncovered serious problems with oxygen systems, which could mean one in four breathing…
