A former Boeing employee who blew the whistle on the airplane maker for quality control issues was found dead in South Carolina this week.

John Barnett had worked for the company for almost three decades as a quality manager and retired in 2017 — the same year he filed a federal complaint that alleged retaliation for raising safety concerns about the company.

What You Need To Know

  • A Boeing whistleblower was found dead in Charleston, S.C., this week of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound

  • John Barnett was a quality manager who worked at Boeing for almost three decades

  • He retired in 2017 — the same year he filed a federal complaint alleging retaliation for raising safety concerns about the company

  • Barnett raised safety concerns about Boeing's 787 Dreamliner

The Charleston County Coroner’s office told Spectrum News Barnett died of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. The city of Charleston’s Police Department is investigating, according to the coroner.

“We are saddened by Mr. Barnett’s passing, and our thoughts are with his family and friends,” Boeing said in a statement provided to Spectrum News.

Barnett was quoted in a 2019 New York Times article, titled “Claims of Shoddy Production Draw Scrutiny to a Second Boeing Jet,” in which he raised concerns about the South Carolina factory where Boeing builds its 787 Dreamliner. He told the newspaper he had found metal shavings near the electrical systems for the planes’ flight controls and warned of potentially catastrophic results if sharp pieces got into the wires.

Barnett told the Times he had urged his bosses repeatedly to remove the shavings but they refused and moved him to a different part of the factory.

A Federal Aviation Administration spokesman told the Times it had found metal slivers on several planes it inspected that Boeing had already certified. Slivers in the wiring could cause electric shorts and fires in some circumstances, he said.

In 2019, Barnett told the BBC there were also problems with the 787 Dreamliner’s oxygen systems that could prompt some emergency masks to malfunction.

Barnett alleged the company retaliated against him in a complaint he reportedly filed with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration in 2017. OSHA determined the company had not retaliated, but Barnett appealed the decision.

Boeing has been under intense scrutiny since Jan. 5 when a door plug blew off a 737-9 MAX aircraft midflight. A preliminary report from the National Transportation Safety Board reported several bolts were missing on the blown-out door plug.

In late February, the FAA ordered Boeing to develop a comprehensive plan to address its quality control issues. The agency is currently conducting a production-line audit of the company and exploring whether to use a third party to oversee its operations.