WASHINGTON – John Barnett wasn’t just a Boeing employee — he was a veteran quality manager who spent nearly three decades with the company. And before his tragic death in 2024, he became one of its most outspoken internal critics.
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Barnett alleged that Boeing’s North Charleston plant, where the 787 Dreamliner is assembled, was rife with pressure to cut corners and ignore basic safety procedures. He claimed that defective parts were knowingly installed in planes, inspections were skipped, and documentation was manipulated — all to maintain delivery schedules and protect profits.
In 2019, Barnett told The New York Times and BBC that workers were being “pushed to get the plane out the door” regardless of whether it was truly safe to fly. He even reported finding oxygen systems that failed quality checks 25% of the time, meaning one in four passengers might not get air in an emergency.
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In 2024, while in Charleston to continue giving sworn testimony in his whistleblower lawsuit against Boeing, Barnett was found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound in his truck. He had just given a full day of depositions and was preparing for more.
Now, the horror he spent years trying to prevent may have come to pass.
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