John Barnett, the whistleblower who previously worked as a quality control manager at Boeing in the United States and exposed multiple safety hazards in the company's products, was found to have died from suspected suicide on March 9th. It is reported that on the day he was found dead, he had originally planned to provide testimony in a lawsuit against Boeing. Boeing aircraft has been experiencing frequent accidents recently. On March 13th, the Federal Aviation Administration of the United States told Southern Metropolitan Daily reporters that it has indeed discovered violations in Boeing's manufacturing process control, component handling and storage, and product control.
According to foreign media reports, former Boeing employee John Barnett was recently found dead at the age of 62 in Charleston, South Carolina, USA. According to police reports, Barnett recently provided testimony in a lawsuit against Boeing in Charleston. He was originally scheduled to undergo further cross examination by Boeing lawyers on March 9th local time, but he did not appear. When the relevant personnel arrived at his hotel that day, they found him dead in his car in the parking lot, with a gunshot wound to the head and a pistol tightly in his hand. The Charleston County Coroner's Office stated that Barnett's gunshot wound appeared to have been caused by himself, while the police did not mention whether it was suspected to be due to murder, and a follow-up investigation is currently underway.
Barnett's lawyer said, "Barnett was in a very good mental state before his death and was very eager to leave this stage of life behind and continue moving forward. We have not seen any signs that he will commit suicide.". The Barnett family believes that due to the impact of the working environment at Boeing, "he suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder and anxiety disorder, which we believe led to his death.". Boeing has expressed sadness over Barnett's passing.
In 2019, Barnett reported that while working at a Boeing factory in South Carolina, he found overworked employees intentionally installing substandard components onto airplanes. He also exposed serious issues with the oxygen system of the Boeing 787 aircraft. Barnett stated that he had repeatedly reported these issues to his superiors, but the company ignored them and did not take any effective action.
According to previous reports from Southern Metropolis Daily, on January 5th local time, an emergency hatch of an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 9 aircraft fell off and made an emergency landing shortly after takeoff. Subsequently, the company discovered that multiple Boeing 737 MAX 9 aircraft had loose bolts. On March 13th, the Federal Aviation Administration of the United States told Southern Metropolitan Daily reporters that its audit of Boeing's production line has been completed, and the agency has found violations in Boeing's manufacturing process control, component handling and storage, and product control.
And regarding this accident, Barnett claimed that he was not surprised by it.