Boeing whistleblower John Barnett found dead in South Carolina

A former Boeing employee, who blew the whistle on alleged safety problems at the aircraft manufacturing giant, has been found dead.

John Barnett, 62, died on Saturday from an apparent “self-inflicted” wound, a coroner in South Carolina in the United States said on Monday.

“Charleston City Police Department is the investigating agency. No further details are available at this time,” the office of Charleston County Coroner Bobbi Jo O’Neal said in a statement.

Brian Knowles and Robert Turkewitz, lawyers who represented Barnett, said their client had been in the midst of a deposition in a lawsuit against Boeing after suffering retaliation and a hostile work environment for exposing serious safety problems with the Boeing 787 Dreamliner.

“He was in very good spirits and really looking forward to putting this phase of his life behind him and moving on. We didn’t see any indication he would take his own life,” Knowles and Turkewitz said in a statement which described Barnett as a “brave, honest man of the highest integrity.”

“No one can believe it. We are all devastated. We need more information about what happened to John.

“The Charleston police need to investigate this fully and accurately and tell the public what they find out. No detail can be left unturned.”

Boeing, where Barnett worked for more than three decades until his retirement in 2017, expressed condolences at the news of his death.

“We are saddened by Mr. Barnett’s passing, and our thoughts are with his family and friends,” the Seattle-based aircraft manufacturer stated in a statement.

In 2019, Barnett was quoted by the BBC alleging that Boeing had deliberately fitted planes with faulty parts and that passengers on its 787 Dreamliner could be left without oxygen in the event of a sudden decompression.

Boeing denied Barnett’s claims at the time, insisting that it adhered to the highest safety standards.

Boeing, which dominates the market for commercial aircraft along with Netherlands-based Airbus, has been under intense scrutiny over its safety record since two fatal crashes involving the Boeing 737 MAX in 2018 and 2019.