Former Boeing employee, John Barett has been confirmed dead in the United States.
Barett had been known for raising concerns about Boeing’s production standards where he worked for 32 years, until his retirement in 2017.
In the days before his death, he had been giving evidence in a whistleblower lawsuit against the company.
Confirming his death, The Charleston County coroner on Monday announced on BBC said “the 62-year-old John Barett had died from a “self-inflicted” wound on 9 March and police were investigating.”
From 2010, Barrett worked as a quality manager at the North Charleston plant making the 787 Dreamliner, a state-of-the-art airliner used mainly on long-haul routes.
In 2019, Mr Barnett told the BBC that under-pressure workers had been deliberately fitting sub-standard parts to aircraft on the production line.
He further accused the company of failure to follow procedures, use of sub-standard parts and other unethical practices in order to prevent delays on the production line.
He also claimed that tests on emergency oxygen systems due to be fitted to the 787 showed a failure rate of 25%, meaning that one in four could fail to deploy in a real-life emergency, adding that he had alerted managers to his concerns, but no action had been taken.
Boeing denied his assertions, however, a 2017 review by the US regulator, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), did back some of Mr Barnett’s claims and concerns.
After his retirement, Barett embarked on a long-running legal action against the company, accusing it of denigrating his character and hampering his career because of the issues he pointed out – charges rejected by Boeing.
Last week in Charleston, Barett gave a formal deposition in which he was questioned by Boeing’s lawyers, before being cross-examined by his own counsel.
After failing to appear at another legal interview on Saturday, he was tragically found dead in his truck in the hotel car park.
Reacting to his death, Boeing in a statement, expressed sadness and condoled with his family and friends.
