Gina Heslop
Two Boeing whistleblowers, Joshua Dean and John Barnett, raised concerns about safety issues at Boeing and its supplier, Spirit AeroSystems.
Joshua Dean, a 45-year-old former quality auditor at Spirit AeroSystems, died unexpectedly from an illness nearly two months after John Barnett, a former quality control manager at Boeing, died by suicide under mysterious circumstances.
Dean had been fired from his position in April 2023 after raising concerns about safety standards at the Spirit AeroSystems plant in Wichita, Kansas. His complaints centered on faulty parts, including a door stopper made for Boeing that had failed during a mid-air flight.
Dean believed his dismissal was a message to other employees to stay quiet about such issues. Despite Boeing’s denial of wrongdoing, his whistleblower claims gained public attention, especially after a significant drop in Boeing’s stock price.
Dean’s family shared the heartbreaking details of his death, which occurred after he developed pneumonia and a serious infection in the hospital.
His aunt, Carol Parsons, and other family members expressed their grief on social media, describing Dean’s final days, where he was reliant on life-support machines and unable to respond. Dean’s passing has left his family mourning, with his mother expressing that he still had a will to live, despite his failing health.
John Barnett, another whistleblower, had also voiced concerns about Boeing’s safety practices. He had filed a lawsuit against the company before his death, claiming that his work was ignored.
Barnett’s friends, however, doubted the official ruling of his death as a suicide, noting that he had reassured them that if anything happened to him, it would not be by his own hand. Barnett and Dean were represented by the same lawyer, Brian Knowles, who spoke about the importance of whistleblowers in exposing corporate wrongdoing, even though they often face significant personal and professional risks.
Both Dean and Barnett’s cases highlight the dangers faced by whistleblowers who step forward to reveal issues within powerful corporations like Boeing. Their deaths have cast a spotlight on the systemic challenges in the aviation industry, where safety concerns are sometimes overshadowed by business interests.
Dean had described the toxic work environment at Spirit AeroSystems, where employees were discouraged from reporting defects. He even pointed out how the company celebrated a reduction in defects with a pizza party, despite knowing that the improvement was due to underreporting issues, not actual safety improvements.
Boeing has repeatedly denied these allegations, maintaining that its planes are safe. Nonetheless, new whistleblower reports have continued to surface, raising questions about the company’s safety protocols.
As investigations by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) into safety concerns continue, the aviation industry faces a critical moment.
