LONDON: Concerns had been raised by whistleblowers for years over the safety of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft which crashed in Ahmedabad on Thursday.John Barnett, who had worked for Boeing for more than 30 years and had been employed as a quality manager at the North Charleston plant, which builds the 787 Dreamliner, had alleged to the BBC in 2019 that under-pressure workers had been “deliberately” fitting sub-standard parts to aircraft on the production line to prevent delays on the production line.Barnett, who retired in 2017, alleged he had alerted managers to his concerns, but no action had been taken. After retiring in 2017, he commenced legal action against the company and in the week before his sudden death in March 2024, from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound, he had been giving evidence in a whistleblower lawsuit against the company.He had also claimed he had uncovered serious problems with oxygen systems, which could mean one in four breathing masks would not work in an emergency.He had said that soon after starting work in South Carolina he had become concerned that the push to get new aircraft built meant the assembly process was rushed and safety was compromised, something Boeing has denied. He had said that in some cases, sub-standard parts had even “been removed from scrap bins” and fitted to planes that were being built.Another whistleblower, current Boeing engineer Sam Salehpour, had in April 2024 told NBC News that Boeing should “ground every...
It’s that time of the year again when taxpayers across the country start filing their Income Tax Returns (ITR). But hold on. If you’re all set to hit submit, take a moment and double-check your re...