John Barnett was say to be rent in a defamation case against the airmanship giant when he was observe with a gunfire wound to the head .
Warning : This berth contain acknowledgment of felo-de-se .
A former Boeing employee known for raising concerns about the safety of its planes was found dead just before a deposition he was reportedly scheduled to give against the company.
John Barnett , 62 , was chance upon with an seeming self - inflicted gunfire injury to the head teacher outside of a Holiday Inn in Charleston , South Carolina , on Saturday , the Charleston Police Department said in a instruction that cite the local county medical examiner ’s berth , which one by one confirmed his demise to HuffPost .
His uncovering in a vehicle , just before 10:20 a.m. , follow a postulation for a welfare check at the hotel , police said .
“We understand the global attention this case has garnered, and it is our priority to ensure that the investigation is not influenced by speculation but is led by facts and evidence,” the police department said, declining to comment further due to the ongoing investigation.
Barnett was in the middle of a defamation case against Boeing after take to have witness a serial of safety issue during his 32 years working for the aviation giant , BBC reported . The former caliber ascendency engineer , who crawl in from Boeing in 2017 , was one of several employees who speak out publicly about safety issues in the years after manufacturing first started on Boeing ’s 787 Dreamliners near Charleston .
Barnett, who the coroner’s office said was from Louisiana, had been in Charleston for legal interviews last week after accusing Boeing of denigrating his character and hampering his career because of the issues he pointed out. He was scheduled to undergo further questioning Saturday when he failed to appear, his attorney, who did not immediately respond to HuffPost’s request for comment, told the BBC.
Boeing , in a command to HuffPost , said it is saddened by Barnett ’s death and express condolence to his family and friends .
Barnett was among multiple employee who had accuse the company of repeatedly ignoring safety issues to tight - track the Dreamliner ’s production .
In a 2019 interviewwith The New York Times, Barnett said that he filed a whistleblower complaint with regulators after finding metal shavings hanging over wiring that commands the plane’s flight controls, putting the wires in jeopardy of “catastrophic” injury during flight.
He repeatedly reported the shaving to his bosses , but said his request to have them removed were brush off and he was moved to another part of the plant .
Boeing , at the clip of that complaint , reportedly state that the matter did not demo a flight safety issue .
“ As a quality manager at Boeing , you ’re the last bloodline of defense before a defect make it out to the flying world , ” Barnett secernate the Times . “ And I have n’t take care a plane out of Charleston yet that I ’d put my name on articulate it ’s safe and airworthy . ”
Barnett also raised concerns to the BBC in 2019 about the plane ’ atomic number 8 systems , tell that examination retrieve a bankruptcy rate of 25 % . He said that nothing was done to ameliorate them , however .
Boeing has been under the microscope since a door panel blew off of a 737 Max 9 jet in midair back in January. Apreliminary report releasedby the National Transportation Safety Board last month concluded that workers likely failed to reattach bolts to the door during repair work.
In the weeks after that incident , Alaska Airlines and United Airlines , which are the only two U.S. airline business using Boeing ’s Max 9 jets , cover findingloose deadbolt and other installation issuance on some of the plane .
A Federal Aviation Administration audit of Boeing and Spirit AeroSystems, which manufactures the 737 Max’s fuselage,recently found“multiple instances in which the companies allegedly failed to comply with manufacturing quality control requirements,” the FAA said.
Boeing was given 90 days to adumbrate a plan of action in answer to the FAA ’s findings . It was also ordered to brush up and treat freestanding finding by a panel of outside expert , who examined condom culture within the ship’s company dating back to two 737 Max 8 crashes in 2018 and 2019.Dial 988 in the US to reach theNational Suicide Prevention Lifeline . The Trevor Project , which furnish help and self-annihilation - prevention resources for LGBTQ younker , contact is 1 - 866 - 488 - 7386 . observe other external suicide helplines atBefrienders Worldwide ( befrienders.org).This post primitively appeared onHuffPost
