The US police confirmed that John Barnett, the whistleblower for Boeing's safety issues, committed suicide.
On the 17th local time, according to a document released by the Charleston Police Department in South Carolina, the police determined that the cause of death of John Barnett, a security whistleblower for Boeing, was suicide.
It is worth mentioning that Boeing has reported more than one safety issue with fatalities this year. On April 30th, after John Barnett, another whistleblower for Boeing's production safety and product quality issues, Joshua Dean, suddenly fell ill and passed away.
In addition, since the beginning of this year, accidents have occurred frequently on multiple models of Boeing aircraft. On May 15th, local time, at the airport in the capital of South Sulawesi Province, Indonesia, a 23-year-old Boeing 747-400 aircraft operated by Indonesia's Eagle Airlines caught fire on one side of its engine during takeoff.
Police confirm that John Barnett committed suicide
According to CBS, on the 17th local time, according to a document released by the Charleston Police Department in South Carolina, after extensive law enforcement investigations, the police determined that the cause of death of former Boeing employee John Barnett, who had publicly exposed safety hazards at Boeing, was suicide.
On March 9th of this year, John Barnett, who had worked at Boeing for 32 years and exposed quality control issues, was scheduled to appear in court to accuse Boeing of defamation, but was found to have committed suicide.
62 year old John Barnett worked at Boeing for 32 years before his death, serving as a quality control manager. He retired in 2017 due to health reasons. In 2019, he exposed to the media that there were many issues with Boeing's production standards and safety inspections. Barnett pointed out that Boeing was eager to take the new aircraft offline, resulting in a hasty assembly process by workers and a large number of unqualified parts being installed on the aircraft; He also found serious problems with the emergency oxygen supply system on Boeing aircraft, with a failure rate of up to 25%. In the event of an emergency, one out of every four breathing masks may not be able to deploy. After Barnett reported the issue to the management, no response was received.
Boeing denies all of Barnett's claims. Afterwards, Barnett began a long-term legal lawsuit against Boeing. Until his death, Barnett was still providing evidence for the lawsuit and accepting legal interviews related to the case.
It is worth mentioning that Boeing has reported more than one safety issue with fatalities this year. Following John Barnett, another whistleblower for production safety and product quality issues at Boeing in the United States, Joshua Dean, died of a sudden illness on April 30th at the age of 45.
According to the Seattle Times on May 1st, Dean lives in Wichita, Kansas and has always been in good health with a healthy lifestyle. The family said that two weeks ago, Dean suddenly sought medical attention and was hospitalized due to breathing difficulties. His condition continued to worsen and he was diagnosed with methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), leaving the doctor unable to recover.
Dean previously worked as a quality inspector at Boeing's airframe supplier, Airborne Systems, and was one of the earliest whistleblowers to accuse Airborne executives of ignoring defects in the manufacturing process of the 737 MAX aircraft.
Frequent safety accidents
Since an Alaska Airlines 737 MAX 7 aircraft experienced a "door drop" accident, Boeing aircraft accidents have been frequent.
On May 15th, local time, at the airport in the capital of South Sulawesi Province, Indonesia, a 23-year-old Boeing 747-400 aircraft operated by Indonesia's Eagle Airlines caught fire on one side of its engine during takeoff. The flight scheduled to fly to Medina, Saudi Arabia continues to climb and returns to a safe landing in approximately 90 minutes. A total of 468 passengers and crew members on board were not injured.
On April 26th local time, a Boeing 767 aircraft flying from Kennedy International Airport in New York to Los Angeles on Delta Airlines was forced to return to Kennedy International Airport and make an emergency landing after the right wing emergency slide fell off after takeoff.
On March 31st, a passenger flight HB341 operated by Greater Bay Area Airlines from Osaka to Hong Kong requested partial vigilance due to suspicion of a broken windshield. The aircraft was a Boeing 737-800. The flight safely landed on the north runway of Hong Kong International Airport at 17:45, and 152 passengers and 8 crew members on board did not report any injuries or discomfort.
On March 17th, when an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 landed in Oregon, the windshield broke. Alaska Airlines stated in a statement that a small crack appeared on the inner windshield of the plane departing from Washington D.C. when it landed at Portland International Airport. There were 159 passengers and 6 crew members on board, and no one was injured. The plane safely arrived at its destination.
On March 15th, a United Airlines Boeing 737-800 aircraft found a missing panel on the outside of its fuselage after landing.
On March 11th, a Boeing 787-9 aircraft flying from Sydney, Australia to Auckland, New Zealand by Latham Airlines, headquartered in Chile, experienced a "technical malfunction" during flight, causing severe shaking of the fuselage and injuring multiple people.
On March 7th, a Boeing 777-200 aircraft flying to Osaka, Japan by United Airlines fell off a tire on the left main landing gear while taking off from San Francisco, USA.
On March 4th, a United Airlines Boeing 737 aircraft flying from Houston to Fort Myers was forced to return shortly after takeoff due to engine fire.
On February 19th, a Boeing 757-200 aircraft operated by United Airlines on a flight from San Francisco to Boston made an alternate landing at Denver International Airport due to damaged wings.
On January 28th, a United Airlines Boeing 737-800 was originally scheduled to fly from Nevada to Virginia, but the plane changed course and landed in Colorado due to a broken windshield.
On January 20th, a Delta Air Lines Boeing 757 aircraft was preparing to take off at Hartsfield Jackson International Airport in Atlanta, Georgia. During taxiing, a wheel on the front landing gear suddenly fell off and rolled off the runway.
On January 13th, a Boeing 737-800 passenger plane operated by All Nippon Airways from Hokkaido Shin Chitose Airport to Toyama Airport in Japan experienced cracks in the cockpit glass during its flight. The flight then returned to Shin Chitose Airport.
On January 5th, a Boeing 737 MAX 9 passenger plane of Alaska Airlines in the United States experienced an accident in the air. A door stopper on the side of the cabin fell off, and the plane immediately made an emergency landing.
Boeing lost $355 million in the first quarter
Boeing's financial report released on April 24th showed that the company incurred a loss of $355 million in the first quarter of this year, which was narrower than the $425 million loss in the same period last year.
The financial report shows that Boeing's revenue in the first quarter was $16.57 billion, a year-on-year decrease of 8%. Mainly affected by the decrease in delivery volume of 737 aircraft models and the grounding of 737 MAX 9, the company delivered 83 civilian aircraft in the quarter, a year-on-year decrease of 36%. The revenue from civilian aircraft business decreased from $6.7 billion in the same period last year to $4.65 billion.
Boeing stated in its financial report that it will reduce its production of 737 aircraft to below 38 per month in the quarter to improve its supply chain and quality management system. In addition, Boeing Civil Aircraft Group is implementing a comprehensive action plan to address feedback from the Federal Aviation Administration on the production audit of the 737 aircraft model.
Boeing President and CEO Dave Calhoun stated that in order to provide the company with a stronger and more stable future, Boeing will spend the necessary time strengthening its quality and safety management system.
At the end of February, the Federal Aviation Administration of the United States requested Boeing to develop a comprehensive action plan within 90 days to address its "systemic quality control issues.". Calhoun announced on March 25th that he will step down at the end of 2024 and stated that he will continue to lead Boeing in completing ongoing work before leaving.
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