Christopher Jasper

A whistleblower raised safety concerns about a factory that makes Boeing’s Dreamliner model, which crashed in India on Thursday.

John Barnett alleged that the company had attempted to “eliminate” quality checks at the factory where he worked in North Carolina.

Mr Barnett, who was found dead in March 2024, aged 62, accused the company of “countless” violations of US law.

His claims included that paperwork had been falsified and that a contaminated tube designed to work in an oxygen system was removed from a scrap bin and may have been installed in an aircraft that was now in service.

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He said that without the part having been sterilised, there was a risk it could cause an explosion and “bring the whole plane down”.

In response to Mr Barnett’s claims, Boeing said it was “saddened” by his passing, but the quality issues that he raised before his retirement in 2017 had been addressed.

The airline added: “Engineering analysis determined the issues he raised did not affect aeroplane safety.”

In a 2021 legal complaint published by his lawyers after his death, Mr Barnett, a quality inspector who had worked at Boeing for more than 30 years, alleged that the company routinely covered up potentially dangerous issues.

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The complaint alleged that Boeing engineers at the 787 factory were faced with pressure from managers not to report problems, due to a need to hit deadlines, despite safety lapses such as the wrong...

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