Boeing whistleblower found dead in South Carolina was from Pineville

Shea Duplechain
·1 min read
1

PINEVILLE, La. (KLFY) — Former Boeing employee and whistleblower who was found dead in South Carolina was a Pineville, La. native.

John Barnett, 62, of Pineville, worked as a Boeing employee for 32 years before retiring in 2017. Barnett was in the midst of a whistleblower retaliation case against Boeing and had been in Charleston, South Carolina to appear for further questioning. After failing to appear, Barnett was later found dead in his truck in a hotel parking lot.

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The Charleston County Coroner confirmed Barnett’s death, and said in a news release he died from what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound. The Charleston Police Department have also released an incident/investigation report. The investigation is reportedly ongoing.

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Barnett had worked as a quality manager at Boeing’s North Charleston plant which manufactured the 787 Dreamliner. He had been outspoken towards Boeing’s production quality, sharing with the New York times in 2017 and BBC in 2019 about serious problems in the production of the companies planes. Boeing denied these claims.

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A 2017 review by the Federal Aviation Administration of the South Carolina factory found many problems with airplane parts, lending more truth to Barnett’s allegations.

The last several months Boeing has drawn much attention due to a series of incidents involving their planes. In January, a door plug flew off of an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 Max in Oregon, prompting an emergency landing. On Monday, at least 50 people were injured by what officials described as “strong movement” on a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner traveling from Sydney to Auckland, New Zealand.

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