A former Boeing staffer who once raised concerns about the company’s production standards has been found dead in the US.
John Barnett, 62, was found dead in his truck in a hotel parking lot in South Carolina, cops said Monday – seven years after he retired following a 32-year career.
The ex-quality manager at Boeing’s North Charleston plant died from a ‘self-inflicted’ wound, cops in Charleston said, adding that they were still investigating.
Barnett’s death came during a break in depositions in a whistleblower retaliation suit, where he alleged under-pressure workers were deliberately fitting sub-standard parts to aircraft on the assembly line.
He said that in some cases, second-rate parts were literally removed from scrap bins, before being fitted to planes that were being built to prevent delays. A 2017 review by the FAA upheld some of his concerns, requiring Boeing to take action.
He had just given a deposition to Boeing’s lawyers for the case this past week, his attorney Brian Knowles said.
John Barnett, 62, was found dead in his truck in a hotel parking lot in South Carolina, cops said Monday – seven years after he retired from the firm following a 32-year career
The ex-quality manager at Boeing’s North Charleston plant (seen died from a ‘self-inflicted’ wound, cops in Charleston said. Barnett was in the midst of a suit that alleged under-pressure workers were deliberately fitting sub-standard parts to aircraft during his tenure
In an email, he called his client’s death ‘tragic’.
‘Today is a tragic day,’ Knowles wrote, revealing that Barnett ‘was supposed to do day three of his deposition here in Charleston on his AIR21 case [on Saturday],’ referring to a federal law that provides whistleblowers protection in the aviation industry.
‘John had been back and forth for quite some time getting prepared,’ he continued, providing a timeline of what transpired in the days before Barnett’s death.
‘The defense examined him for their allowed seven hours under the rules on Thursday.
‘I cross examined him all day yesterday [Friday] and did not finish. We agreed to continue this morning at 10 am [co-counsel] Rob [Turkewitz] kept calling this morning and his phone would go to voicemail.
‘We then asked the hotel to check on him,’ the South Carolina jurist went on.
‘They found him in his truck dead from an ‘alleged’ self-inflicted gunshot. We drove to the hotel and spoke with the police and the coroner.’
The Charleston County coroner, meanwhile, confirmed Monday the longtime Boeing staffer died Friday, while in town for interviews linked to the case.
Boeing also responded to the former worker’s death in their own statement as news spread on Monday, saying it was ‘saddened by Mr. Barnett’s passing.’
The statement did not address any aspects of the case, but brass ultimately added: ‘Our thoughts are with his family and friends.’
Boeing’s assembly plant in North Charleston – where the deceased worked for decades – is seen here
The plant where Barnett worked for decades is where Boeing builds the 787 Dreamliner, one of several crafts from the airliner that’s made headlines as of late. Pictured: an unrelated United Airlines Boeing 787-9 takes off from Los Angeles international Airport on July 30, 2022
On Monday, roughly 50 people were treated by first responders after a Boeing 787 Dreamliner flying from Australia to New Zealand experienced a ‘technical event’ that caused ‘a strong movement’ jolting passengers in their seats
As of writing, five remain hospitalized after the plane dipped violently due to the unspecified issue, LATAM airline and first responders both told AFP
Meanwhile, in a separate incident in early January, an unused emergency exit door blew off a brand-new Boeing 737 Max shortly after take-off from Portland International, sparking a still-ongoing DOJ investigation
The plant where Barnett worked for decades is where Boeing builds the 787 Dreamliner, one of several crafts from the airliner that’s made headlines as of late.
On Monday, roughly 50 people were treated by first responders after a Boeing 787 Dreamliner flying from Australia to New Zealand experienced a ‘technical event’ that caused ‘a strong movement’ jolting passengers in their seats.
As of writing, five remain hospitalized after the plane dipped violently due to the unspecified issue, LATAM airline and first responders both told AFP.
Meanwhile, in a separate incident in early January, an unused emergency exit door blew off a brand-new Boeing 737 Max shortly after take-off from Portland International, sparking a still-ongoing DOJ investigation.
On Friday, shortly before the incident over the Indian Ocean, Boeing said it believed the technical failure involving the door stemmed from something that occurred during production, where required documents detailed the removal of a key part that failed were never created.
Also on Friday, the company said it is ‘committed to continuing to cooperate fully and transparently with the National Transportation Safety Board’s investigation,’ which, more than three months later, remains ongoing.
Barnett’s job for 32 years was overseeing production standards for the firm’s planes – standards he said were not met during his four years at the then-new plant in Charleston from 2010 to 2014.
‘The new leadership didn’t understand processes,’ Barnett told Corporate Crime Reporter in an interview in 2019 of how brass allegedly cut corners to get their then state-of-the-art 7878s out on time.
‘They brought them in from other areas of the company,’ he continued, two years after retiring in 20017. ‘The new leadership team – from my director down – they all came from St. Louis, Missouri. They said they were all buddies there.’
‘That entire team came down,’ he went on. ‘They were from the military side. My impression was their mindset was – we are going to do it the way we want to do it. Their motto at the time was – we are in Charleston and we can do anything we want.’
‘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.
‘That entire team came down,’ he went on. ‘They were from the military side. My impression was their mindset was – we are going to do it the way we want to do it. Their motto at the time was – we are in Charleston and we can do anything we want.’
Barnett’s job for 32 years was overseeing production standards for the firm’s planes – standards he said were not met during his four years at the then-new plant in Charleston from 2010 to 2014 as brass rushed to roll out the then new 787 Dreamliner model
He also said he had uncovered serious problems with the plane’s oxygen systems, alleging that one in four breathing masks would not work in the event of an emergency.
Barnett claimed he alerted superiors at the plant about his misgivings, but no action was ever taken. Boeing denied this, as well as his claims.
However, a 2017 review by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) went on to stand up some of Barnett’s qualms, including finding that at least 53 ‘non-conforming’ parts – as they put it – were misplaced, and considered lost.
Boeing was ordered to take immediate remedial action, by locating and detailing the lost parts.
After the review, the company went on to also concede that it had ‘identified some oxygen bottles received from the supplier that were not deploying properly’, but denied Barnett’s claims that any were actually fitted on aircraft.
Meanwhile, last week, the FAA said a six-week audit found ‘multiple instances where [Boeing] allegedly failed to comply with manufacturing quality control requirements.’
FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker said Boeing must develop a comprehensive plan to address ‘systemic quality-control issues’ within 90 days after an all-day February 27 meeting with CEO Dave Calhoun, but did not say the specific corrective actions Boeing and Spirit must take.
He sent summary of its findings to the companies in its completed audit.
‘Boeing must commit to real and profound improvements,’ Whitaker explained at the time. ‘We are going to hold them accountable every step of the way, with mutually understood milestones and expectations.’
Calhoun responded in a statement that Boeing’s leadership team was ‘totally committed’ to addressing FAA concerns and developing the plan, after Whitaker previously said in January the goal of the audit was ‘to look at the system, look at how the inspections are done, where they’re done, how the interaction is with the suppliers, how the handoff happens, just the whole process to really understand how it works and where the faults might be.’
Spirit AeroSystems, which makes the fuselage for the now scrutinized MAX, said it is ‘in communication with Boeing and the FAA on appropriate corrective actions.’
Boeing said in response that ‘by virtue of our quality stand-downs, the FAA audit findings and the recent expert review panel report, we have a clear picture of what needs to be done.’
Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun speaks with reports at the Capitol in January after MAX 9 planes were grounded follwing the door incident. The company is now under criminal investigation
The investigation will see feds will examine whether Boeing has met the conditions of the 2021 settlement reached after the fatal 2018 and 2019 crashes that killed 346 people.
teams collect personal effects and other materials from the crash site of Ethiopian Airlines Flight in March 2019, less than a year after another 737-MAX crash in Indonesia
Meanwhile, the firm is now under criminal investigation for the door incident on the Max plane this past January, during which feds will examine whether Boeing has met the conditions of the 2021 settlement reached after the fatal 2018 and 2019 crashes that killed 346 people.
The first occurred when a Max 8 operated by Indonesia’s Lion Air plunged into the Java Sea in October 2018.
The second was when an Ethiopian Airlines 737 Max 8 crashed nearly straight down into a field six minutes after takeoff from Addis Ababa in March 2019.
Boeing reached a $2.5 billion settlement with the FBI and the Transportation Department in the wake of the crashes, admitting that two former employees had misled the FAA over how much training a new flight control system would require.
If the Justice Department finds that Boeing has violated the terms of that settlement, they could face prosecution on the original count of defrauding the US.
Boeing declined to comment on the criminal investigation. DailyMail.com contacted Alaska Airlines for comment.
Boeing is also facing a civil lawsuit from a group of passengers onboard the flight.
In January, an Alaska Airlines flight suffered a near-catastrophe as a plane door blew out at 16,000ft over Portland
There were no serious injuries from the terrifying air failure, but passenger’s belongings including phones flew out of the aircraft
Earlier this week, the head of the National Transportation Safety Board accused Boeing of failing to provide some key records sought in its ongoing investigation into the mid-air cabin door emergency.
NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy said investigators have sought the names of the 25 people who work on door plugs at a Boeing facility in Renton, Washington, but have not received them from Boeing.
‘It is absurd that two months later we don’t have it,’ Homendy said at a Senate Commerce Committee hearing on Wednesday.
Boeing insisted that it had initially provided the NTSB with some of the names of Boeing employees, including door specialists it believed would have relevant information.
Senator Ted Cruz, the top Republican on the Commerce Committee, called it ‘utterly unacceptable’ that the NTSB was not receiving full cooperation from Boeing.
Homendy also confirmed that the MAX 9 door plug had moved during prior flights, citing markings on the door.
An Alaska Airlines flight arrived in Portland with the door to its cargo space where passengers’ pets were inside left slightly ajar
The door plug incident has been followed by a string of bad press for Boeing, which has made headlines in recent weeks for issues with planes – including an engine exploding on a flight out of Texas and a wheel falling off on take-off at San Francisco.
Last month, another Alaska Airlines plane landed safely in Portland with its cargo door open.
Alaska Airlines Flight 1437 from Los Cabos, Mexico, arrived at Portland International Airport and photos show the open door.
It’s unclear how long the door was open for, but the flight did not require an emergency landing.
There was no indication that the door was open during the flight, according to crew members, which points to the door opening after landing.
‘Upon landing at PDX on March 1, Alaska Airlines flight 1437 was discovered to have the forward cargo door unsealed,’ Alaska airlines said in a statement.
‘There was no indication to the crew that the door was unsealed during flight and all indications point to the door partially opening after landing.
‘Our maintenance teams inspected the aircraft, replaced a spring in the door, tested the door and reentered it into service.’
Under a deal reached in 2021, the Justice Department had agreed not to prosecute the company for conspiracy to defraud the government. Families of the nearly 350 victims quickly spoke out against the decision, culminating in the lawsuit settled in October
After relocating in May, Boeing has sought to move past the fallout from the two crashes, with the wrongful death inconsistencies now serving as its last obstacle.
Such disputes over damages and the deceased’s final moments are nounusual, legal experts told the Journal, namely in states like Illinois where laws exist only allowing damages dished out for a plaintiff’s grief and loss, and not suffering.
Pointing to a lack sufficient evidence the victims experienced pain and suffering between their injuries and deaths, Boeing attorneys say the company should not be liable for those proposed payments.
That battle over whether the plane maker should have to pay for the victims’ suffering comes more than two years after Boeing admitted responsibility for the second crash as part of a deal to obtain legal immunity from the federal government.
The company, at the time, conceded to US District Judge Reed O’Connor that the company had conspired to defraud the United States when it lied about the planes’ safety features in hearings and documents after the crashes, which left all Max jets grounded worldwide for nearly two years. That cost Boeing more than $20 billion.
The deal saw attorneys for the plaintiffs agree to take potential punitive damages off the table in the suits – of which there were roughly 80. Punitive damages refer to the amounts of money defendants are ruled to pay as part of their punishment.
Under the controversial deal, the Justice Department agreed not to prosecute the company for conspiracy to defraud the government, effectively granting it legal immunity.
Families of the victims quickly spoke out against the decision, however, demanding justice for the victims. Both Boeing and the DOJ opposed reopening the agreement.
US District Judge Reed O’Connor ordered Boeing to appear to be arraigned after he ruled that people killed in the two Boeing 737 MAX crashes are legally considered ‘ crime victims’
In a court filing in November, the Justice Department said it did not oppose undoing the agreement and properly arraigning Boeing, but said undoing the agreement ‘would impose serious hardships on the parties and the many victims who have received compensation.’
As backlash from families persisted, the Justice Department in January announced that it would do away with the 2021 deal – which saw the company pay $2.5 billion to the Justice Department as part of a settlement – and move forward with the manufacturer’s arraignment.
At the time, Boeing’s chief safety officer, Mike Delaney, entered a not-guilty plea on behalf of the planemaker. During the arraignment, relatives of those killed decried the company, saying it ‘committed the deadliest corporate crime in U.S. history.’
The planes, however, were cleared to fly again in 2021, after Boeing overhauled an automated flight-control system that activated erroneously in both crashes, after promising to look into the plane’s safety issues.
Officials, however, would only choose to ground 737s after a second crash, this time in Ethiopia, just five months later.
Following an investigation in 2020, Boeing blamed both crashes on a failure in the planes’ flight control system, which caused the plane’s to turn sharply downwards while in the air.
737 MAX jets were once again cleared to fly in November 2021, after two years of being grounded, with Boeing at the time branding the planes safe for passengers
Boeing had previously agreed to a $200million penalty from the Securities and Exchange Commission to settle charges that it ‘negligently violated the antifraud provisions,’ of US securities law.
The agency argued that just one month after the first crash, the company ‘selectively highlighted certain facts, implying pilot error and poor aircraft maintenance’ was what led to the crashes, instead of a technical issue.
That release failed to disclose that the company knew a key flight handling system, the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System posed safety issues and was never redesigned, the SEC argued.
Then, after the second crash, the agency said, Boeing and Muilenburg assured the public that there was ‘no surprise or gap’ in the federal certification of the MAX despite being aware of contrary information.
‘In times of crisis and tragedy, it is especially important that public companies and executives provide full, fair, and truthful disclosures to the markets,’ said SEC Chair Gary Gensler in a press release.
‘The Boeing Company and its former CEO, Dennis Muilenburg, failed in this most basic obligation. They misled investors by providing assurances about the safety of the 737 MAX, despite knowing about serious safety concerns.’
The SEC said both Boeing and Muilenburg, in agreeing to pay the penalties, did not admit or deny the agency’s findings.
Boeing said the agreement ‘fully resolves’ the SEC’s inquiry and is part of the company’s ‘broader effort to responsibly resolve outstanding legal matters related to the 737 MAX accidents in a manner that serves the best interests of our shareholders, employees, and other stakeholders,’ a company spokesman said.
‘We will never forget those lost on Lion Air Flight 610 and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302, and we have made broad and deep changes across our company in response to those accidents.’
Meanwhile, relatives in the remaining civil lawsuits have enlisted their own expert witnesses to help their case, and address questions regarding their family member’s final moments.
One of those experts, aerospace physiologist Troy Faaborg, wrote in a court filing the victims very likely experienced issues such as panic, nausea and vomiting, heart problems during the six-minute nosedive, giving credence to their relatives argument.
Vickie Norton, a commercial airline pilot hired as a witness by the plaintiffs, also wrote: ‘It wasn’t long before the progressive loss of control and ultimate dive to the ground would have been not only distressing but terror-inducing to all passengers onboard.’
Feds will now decide whether Boeing defied the terms of the deal reached this past October.