Slightly big news: Boeing Whistleblower found dead, "self-inflicted" gunshot wound to the head

[thewayne]

Wow. Words absolutely fail me.

John Barnett had worked for Boeing for thirty years before retiring in 2017 for medical reasons. He was a senior quality control engineer on the 787 program. He became a whistleblower when he saw sub-standard parts being installed and later discovered a 25% failure rate in the passenger breathing mask system for the 787.

He was in Charleston as part of a long-running legal battle against Boeing. When he failed to appear as part of this on Saturday, they searched for him at his hotel and he was found dead in his truck in the parking lot.

Of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.

I really, REALLY hope the FBI steps in on this one. It might have been a clean suicide, it might not have been. But there's too much going on with Boeing without there being a VERY serious investigation into this!

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-68534703

Comments

[garote]

Creeeeepyyyyyyy

[thewayne]

VERY.  It is entirely possible he just got bone-tired of all the BS and couldn't take it anymore.  We don't know.  That's why there needs to be a high-level investigation into this.  It doesn't make sense to me that Boeing would off him - this isn't Putin's Russia - but anything can happen.

[warriorsavant]

"Shot himself 17 times in the back."

I agree more likely he just couldn't take it anymore, but also agree needs serious investigation.

[fairy69]

" he was found dead in his truck in the parking lot.

Of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head."

Uh....yeah that is not foul play...

[moonhare]

[gingeriana]

*allegedly* self-inflicted, yup

[kaishin108]

That really needs to be investigated with a fine tooth comb, my gawd. Boeing is SO messed up. :-/

[thewayne]

That's my belief. Boeing's current problems, aside from their entire culture being screwed up, almost entirely revolve around the 737 Max line. This guy was old news over problems with the 787. Unless someone lower than the C-suite mistakenly thought it would help their higher-ups if they were to arrange for this guy to go away, I don't think there's any way a Boeing exec would allow this. The last thing that they need is more horrible PR.

[graydon]

If the FAA de-certifies Boeing, they more or less cease to exist.

Whether or not that happens might well be believed to hinge on the length of time this stuff has been going on, and this guy could have testified about that and his fate might be intended pour discouragee les autres. Or it could just be panic. Panicky executives who weren't that smart in the first place don't necessarily make optimal choices.

So I would like to think they wouldn't, but I'd also be slow to suppose there's no reason they might not be willing to do so.

[disneydream06]

Way too convenient of a suicide imho...
Hugs, Jon

[silveradept]

That very much should invoke a stronger investigation, just to be certain that it was self-inflicted and that there were no actions from the company that might have hurried, harried, or provoked this action. If for no other reason than for Boeing not to get tagged with not just being a company that has problems with their safety equipment, but also tries to eliminate the people who blow the whistle against them.