Beyond The Horizon

ICYMI: Boeing Whistleblower John Barnett Allegedly Commits Suicide

An aviation whistleblower is an individual within the aviation industry who brings forth information regarding illegal, unethical, or unsafe practices or issues within their organization or the industry as a whole. These individuals may be current or former employees, contractors, or other stakeholders with insider knowledge of the operations, policies, or practices within airlines, aircraft manufacturers, regulatory agencies, or related entities.

Aviation whistleblowers play a crucial role in promoting safety, transparency, and accountability within the aviation sector. They may expose various concerns such as safety violations, maintenance issues, regulatory non-compliance, security breaches, environmental hazards, financial improprieties, discrimination, or other misconduct.

Whistleblowers often face significant risks and challenges when speaking out, including potential retaliation, loss of employment, legal consequences, damage to their reputation, and personal hardships. However, their disclosures can lead to positive changes, such as regulatory reforms, improved safety protocols, corrective actions, accountability for wrongdoing, and ultimately, enhanced safety for passengers, crew members, and the public.

To protect whistleblowers and encourage reporting, some jurisdictions have enacted whistleblower protection laws that shield individuals from retaliation and provide avenues for reporting concerns confidentially or anonymously. Additionally, various organizations, advocacy groups, and legal resources may offer support and assistance to aviation whistleblowers.

Overall, aviation whistleblowers serve as critical watchdogs, helping to identify and address issues that could jeopardize the safety, integrity, and trust within the aviation industry, ultimately contributing to the improvement and sustainability of air travel worldwide.

John Barnett worked for Boeing for 32 years as a quality control supervisor and in 2017, he had enough of the nonsense that he says was going on at the company, so he became a whistleblower. Not only that, but the regulators who investigated Boeing, backed up his findings.

This past week Mr. Barnett gave his testimony under oath and was scheduled to finish that testimony a couple of days later. That would never happen as authorities found Mr. Barnett in his hotel parking lot, dead from what they say was a self inflicted gunshot wound.

So, what really happened to Mr. Barnett and is there something more behind the curtain? Let's dive in and try to find some clarity.

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Boeing whistleblower John Barnett is found dead in his truck outside a South Carolina hotel just days after testifying in lawsuit against the aviation giant | Daily Mail Online

Duration:: 27m
Broadcast on:: 25 Jun 2024
Audio Format:: mp3

What's up everyone, and welcome back to the program. We got a wild story to talk about this one, and it has to do with a whistleblower from the company Boeing, the aeronautics company, who ended up testifying at a court hearing about the company and what's going on with all of their issues. And then a couple of days later, he's found dead from a "self-inflicted" gunshot wound. Now, I'm not somebody that dives in to every single one of these types of conspiracies, and gives it credence or merit, but this right here boy. This has all the hallmarks of being something a lot more than a self-inflicted gunshot wound. So let's just dive right into the story from the Daily Mail, and let's see what they have for us. Headline, Boeing whistleblower John Barnett is found dead in his truck outside a South Carolina hotel, just days after testifying in a lawsuit against the aviation giant. And we all know that Boeing is up against it right now, they've had a lot of issues with their jets lately, and there have been a lot of lawsuits, a lot of blowback, and we're talking about a giant in the industry, right? So the implications are wide-ranging, and we're talking about financial implications. Those implications bleed over to people who are invested into the company, and we know that a lot of people with a lot of money and a lot at stake are invested in Boeing. So is it really that far out of the realm of possibility that somebody could have killed this man? And it's really starting to smell like a Gary Webb-type deal. This article was authored by Alex Hammer. A former Boeing staffer, who once raised concerns about the company's production standards, has been found dead in the U.S. John Barnett, 62, was found dead in his truck in a hotel parking lot in South Carolina, his lawyer said Monday, seven years after he retired following a 32-year career. So this man, put in all of his time, spent his whole life working, retires, then becomes a whistleblower to try and do good, and ends up dead. Who's buying this? Is anybody buying the story that he killed himself? Because what I've seen from the official narrative, this all looks like a bunch of BS to me. The ex-quality manager at Boeing's North Charleston plant died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, cops in Charleston said, adding that they were still investigating. Look, when you have situations like this where you have somebody who, quote-unquote, dies from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, the investigation is not going to be robust. They're not going to dive deep into this because they're already going off of the premise that it was a suicide. So my prediction is this whole thing is going to get swept under the rug, and the official narrative and the official story will end up being, oh, this man killed himself, even though there's no evidence of that. There has been nothing as far as people coming forward saying that this man was suicidal. No, no left. Nothing like that. Barnett's death came during a break in depositions in a whistleblower retaliation suit, where he alleged under pressure workers were deliberately fitting substandard parts to aircraft on the assembly line. And look, I'm terrified to fly in the first place. You start hearing all this stuff about Boeing using substandard parts, all this other garbage, and I got to tell you, not very confidence inducing, like if you want to get the knockoff brand soda, all right, fine, I'll deal with it, but we're talking about a jetliner here. You better make sure you're using the right damn pieces and the right down parts. And don't think for a minute that when all this money is on the line that people won't be pushed into doing crazy shit, because they will be. He said that in some cases, second-rate parts were literally removed from scrap bins before being fitted to planes that were being built to prevent delays, a 2017 review by the FAA upheld some of his concerns requiring Boeing to take action. So these dirt bags in Boeing, who are making money hand over fist by the way, they decided that it's a good idea to use second-hand parts, parts from junkyards and shit, whoever's responsible for that decision making, they should be fired and they should be charged criminally. He had just given a deposition to Boeing's lawyers for the case this past week, his attorney Brian Knowles said. In an email, he called his client's death tragic. Today is a tragic day, Knowles wrote, revealing that Barnett was supposed to do Day 3 of his deposition here in Charleston on his Air 21 case on Saturday, referring to a federal law that provides whistleblowers protection in the aviation industry. Here's a question for you. How many of our lawmakers have stock in Boeing? My guess is a whole lot of them. John had been back and forth for quite some time, getting prepared, he continued, providing a timeline of what transpired in the days before Barnett's death. The defense examined them for their allowed seven hours under the rules on Thursday. I cross-examined him all day yesterday, Friday, and did not finish. We agreed to continue this morning at 10 a.m., co-council Rob Turkowitz kept calling this morning and his phone would just go to voicemail. We then asked the hotel to check on him. The South Carolina jurists went on. They found them in his truck dead from an alleged self-inflicted gunshot wound. We drove to the hotel and spoke with the police and the coroner. Yeah, I have a lot of questions here. Look, I'm not saying that it wasn't suicide, right? It could have been. I don't know this man. I don't know what kind of state of mind he was in, but I certainly have questions, especially when we're talking about a company like Boeing with the kind of reach that they have, the kind of power that they have, and when people are up against it, you know that people will do crazy shit. So was there somebody that decided to take matters into their own hands here? Obviously the police aren't saying that, but I think it has to be investigated. The Charleston County coroner meanwhile confirmed Monday, the long time Boeing staffer died Friday while in town for interviews linked to the case. Boeing also responded to the former worker's death in their own statement as news spread on Monday, saying it was saddened by Mr. Barnett's passing. Yeah, I don't know how that's going to hit with his family, considering it's this whole entire ordeal that led to his death one way or the other, either by his own hand or by some scumbag who decided to kill him. The fact remains that this situation itself led to Mr. Barnett's death. The statement did not address any aspects of the case, but brass ultimately added, "Our thoughts are with his family and his friends. Oh, I'm sure that's comforting. I'm sure that's comforting to everybody out there." Meanwhile, the rest of us are sitting around here, saying to ourselves, "Do these clowns really use aftermarket parts? Are they out here getting shit from junkyards and putting it on the planes? I mean, would it shock you? We all know about these corporations and how it's all about profits over people." The plant where Barnett worked for decades is where Boeing builds the 787 Dreamliner, one of several crafts from the airliner that's made headlines as of late. On Monday, roughly 50 people were treated by first responders after a Boeing 787 Dreamliner flying from Australia to New Zealand experienced a technical event that caused a strong movement jolting passengers in their seats. It's like my worst fear. Being on a plane and all this technical crap starts happening and you have no idea if that bad boy is going to land or if it's going to crash and you want to really add a little bit of spice to it for me, have that shit happen over an ocean because I am deathly afraid of the open ocean as it is, never mind crashing in a plane and my ass ends up surviving floating around in the ocean to be eaten by sharks because that's definitely my fate. So you can miss me with all of your aftermarket parts and all your bullshit around. As of riding, five remained hospitalized after the plane dipped violently due to the unspecified issue. Ladom Airline and first responders both told AFP. Meanwhile, in a severed incident in early January, an unused emergency exit door blew off a brand new Boeing 737 MAX shortly after take off from Portland International, sparking a still ongoing DOJ investigation. Now how in the fuck does that happen? You mean to tell me that a door is going to blow off mid-air? Sure, let me go and book another flight. I mean, I recently flew up to Montana and it was a shit show. My flight ended up getting delayed, I was in the airport in Kalisbell for like 14 hours. Then I went to Denver. There was another delay. All I'm trying to do is get back home, a measly hour and 55 minute flight. But shit is so screwed up when it comes to the airliners these days that even that's a pain in the balls. And then you want to add to that misery and say that a door might blow off mid flight on Friday, shortly before the incident over the Indian Ocean. Oh, of course, over the ocean, right? Having said it, believe the technical failure involving the door stem from something that occurred during production, where required documents detail the removal of a key part that failed were never created. Well, isn't that nice? And what kind of people are they hiring over at Boeing? And to digress a little bit, this is the same reason I don't go on carnival rides. Yeah, that's right. I don't know who built those carnival rides who's maintaining them. Old Ted with methmouth over here, you know, fixing the carnival ride. You can miss me with that shit, too. I'm not going on any carnival rides. I guess we have the same sort of people over here working for Boeing. Also on Friday, the company said it's committed to continuing to cooperate fully and transparently with a national transportation safety board's investigation, which more than three months later remains ongoing. Barnett's job for 32 years was overseeing production standards for the firm's planes, standards, he said, were not met during his four years at the then new plant in Charleston from 2010 to 2004. The new leadership didn't understand processes. Barnett told corporate crime reporter in an interview in 2019 of how brass allegedly cut corners to get their then state of the arts 787s out on time. They brought them in from other areas of the company. He continues two years after retiring in 2017. The new leadership team from my director down, they all came from St. Louis, Missouri. They said they were all buddies there. That entire team came down, he went on. They were from the military side. My impression was, their mindset was, we are going to do it the way we want to do it. Their motto at the time was, we are in Charleston and we can do anything we want. Well it's always great hubris before the fall, right? He also said that he uncovered serious problems with the plane's oxygen systems alleging that one in four breathing masks would not work in the event of an emergency. Barnett claimed he alerted superiors at the plant about his misgivings but no action was ever taken. Boeing denied this as well as his claims, oh I'm sure they did. What are they going to run up and say, oh you know what, he told us all about this and we didn't do anything, we just let people die. Yeah, not going to do that. However, a 2017 review by the Federal Aviation Administration went on to stand up some of Barnett's qualms including finding that at least 53 non-conforming parts as they put it were misplaced and considered lost. Boeing was ordered to take immediate remedial action by locating and detailing the lost parts. After the review the company went on to also concede that it had identified some oxygen bottles received from the supplier that were not deploying properly but denied Barnett's claims that they were actually fitted on the aircraft. Meanwhile last week, the FAA said a six week audit found multiple instances where Boeing allegedly failed to comply with manufacturing quality control requirements. Again, we're talking about a jetliner folks, we're not talking about, you know, a sled, we're not talking about a hot wheel truck, we're talking about a fucking airliner. Here's an idea, do your job correctly and do it with precision. FAA Administrator Mike Whittaker said Boeing must develop a comprehensive plan to address systemic quality control issues within 90 days after an all day February 27th meeting with CEO Dave Calhoun but did not say the specific corrective actions Boeing and spirit must take. He sent summary of its findings to the companies in its completed audit. Boeing must commit to real and profound improvements Whittaker explained at the time, we're going to hold them accountable every step of the way with mutually understood milestones and expectations. Sounds like just a bunch of BS to me. Once the last time a company like Boeing was really hell responsible for anything. Calhoun responded in a statement that Boeing's leadership team was totally committed to addressing FAA concerns and developing the plan after Whittaker previously said in January the goal of the audit was to look at the system, look at how the inspections are done, where they're done, how the interaction is with the suppliers, how the handoff happens, just the whole process to really understand how it works and where the faults might be. Spirit Arrow Systems which makes the fuselage for the now scrutinized max said it is in communication with Boeing and the FAA on appropriate corrective actions. Well that's nice to know huh? Here's an idea, quit talking and just do it. Boeing said in a response that by virtue of our quality stand downs, the FAA audit findings and the recent expert review panel report, we have a clear picture of what needs to be done. Well okay so they better do it right? And if they don't, well there's going to be hell to pay, because what happens next time they're flying over the Indian Ocean and the door blows out and it ends in tragedy. Meanwhile, the firm is now under criminal investigation for the door incident on the max plane this past January, during which feds will examine whether Boeing has met the conditions of the 2021 settlement reached after the fatal 2018 and 2019 crashes that killed 346 people. The first occurred when a max eight operated by Indonesia's Lion Air plunged into the Java Sea in October 2018 nope, no thank you. The whole thought of crashing into the ocean is terrifying to me and I know it probably doesn't matter. You'll probably die you know before it long before you get to the ocean, but the thought in my brain is terrifying. And to think that these idiots are out here dicking around when they should be making sure that the plane is flight ready is just absolutely bananas. The second was when Ethiopian Airlines 737 max eight crashed nearly straight down into a field six minutes after take off from Addis Ababa in March 2019, Boeing reached a $2.5 billion settlement with the FBI and the transportation department in the wake of the crashes admitting that two former employees had misled the FAA over how much training a new flight control system would require. Yo, it's one thing to lie to your boss about sending an email or something. It's a whole different story to say, Oh, you know what? Everything's flight worthy and you don't need that much training. Well breaking news. Yeah, you do. If the Justice Department finds that Boeing has violated the terms of that settlement, they could face prosecution on the original count of defrauding the US. I hope they do. Boeing declined to comment on the criminal investigation delimel.com contacted Alaska Airlines for comment Boeing is also facing a civil lawsuit from a group of passengers on board the flight. I don't blame them. If I was on board some shitty flight and you know, there was some sort of issue that wasn't an accident and it was something that could have been prevented and it was negligence. Yep, I want to bag two. I'm trying to get some money out of that. You put me through all kinds of pain and misery. So you better damn well have that checkbook ready earlier this week, the head of the national transportation safety board accused Boeing of failing to provide some key records sought in its ongoing investigation into the midair cabin door emergency. NTSB chair Jennifer Hammondy said investigators have sought the names of the 25 people who work on door plugs at Boeing's facility in rent in Washington but have not received them from Boeing. It's absurd that two months later we don't have it. Hammondy said at a Senate Commerce Committee hearing on Wednesday Boeing insisted that it had initially provided the NTSB with some of the names of Boeing employees, including door specialists it believed would have relevant information. Senator Ted Cruz, the top Republican, on the Commerce Committee called it utterly unacceptable that the NTSB was not receiving full cooperation from Boeing. Hammondy also confirmed that the max nine door plug had moved during prior flights citing markings on the door. The door plug incident has been followed by a string of bad press for Boeing, which has made headlines in recent weeks for issues with planes, including an engine exploding on a flight out of Texas and a wheel falling off on takeoff at San Francisco. Last month another Alaska Airlines plane landed safely in Portland with its cargo door open. I mean, how is this even real life? We're in the year 2024 and you guys can't figure this shit out yet. Alaska Airlines flight 1437 from Los Cabos, Mexico arrived in Portland International Airport and photo showed the open door. It's unclear how long the door was open for, but the flight did not require an emergency landing. There was no indication that the door was open during the flight, according to crew members, which points to the door opening after landing either way. If it opened after landing, what's to say it's not going to open mid flight? There was no indication to the crew that the door was unsealed during flight and all indications point to the door partially opening after landing. Our maintenance teams inspected the aircraft, replaced a spring in the door, tested the door, and reentered it into service. After relocating in May, Boeing has sought to move past the fallout from the two crashes, with the wrongful death and consistency is now serving as its last obstacle. Such disputes over damages and the deceased final moments are non-unusual, legal experts told the journal, namely in states like Illinois, where laws exist only allowing damages dished out for a plaintiff's grief and loss, not for suffering. Pointing to a lack of sufficient evidence, the victims experience pain and suffering between their injuries and deaths, Boeing attorneys say the company should not be liable for those proposed payments. Oh yeah, there was no grief and suffering on those planes. Everybody was just in a nice, you know, pacified state as the plane was blowing up and crashing. These corporations like Boeing need to get chint checked. The battle over whether the plane makers should have to pay for the victim's suffering comes more than two years after Boeing admitted responsibility for the second crash as part of a deal to obtain legal immunity from the federal government. Imagine the government giving them immunity? So gross. Just like the banking system, right? I guess it's too big to fail. The company at the time conceded to the US District Judge Rita O'Connor that the company had conspired to defraud the United States when it lied about the plane's safety features and hearings and documents after the crashes, which left all max jets grounded worldwide for nearly two years. That caused Boeing more than 20 billion. The deal saw attorneys for plaintiffs agree to take potential punitive damages off the table in the suits, of which there were roughly 80 punitive damages referred to the amount of money defendants are ruled to pay as part of their punishment. And remember, we're talking about Mr. Barnett's alleged suicide, and this is all the background. So there's certainly some merit here when you're talking about the possibility that Mr. Barnett didn't take his own life. One of the biggest motivators for people when they're committing murder is money, and there sure is a lot of people here that are on the hook to lose a lot of it. Under the controversial deal, the Justice Department agreed not to prosecute the company for conspiracy to defraud the government, effectively granting it legal immunity. Families of the victims quickly spoke out against the decision, however, demanding justice for the victims, both Boeing and the DOJ opposed reopening the agreement, of course. The DOJ loves to give out shit deals. Just look at Epstein. In a court filing in November, the Justice Department said it did not oppose undoing the agreement and properly arraigning Boeing, but said undoing the agreement would impose serious hardships on the parties and the many victims who have received compensation. As backlash from families persisted, the Justice Department in January announced that it would do away with the 2021 deal, which saw the company pay $2.5 billion to the Justice Department as part of the settlement and move forward with the manufacturer's arraignment. Again, how come they can't do that with Epstein's deal? You already know the reason they won't do that with Epstein's deal is because they don't want to screw any other faves. They don't want their faves to be caught up so they can't do that with Epstein, but don't let anybody tell you they can't get rid of a deal they most certainly can. The government has and will continue to rip up proffers and 302s whenever they damn well see fit, and that's why I go so hard on that NPA when it comes to Epstein same deal here. If you got an NPA, a non-prosecution agreement and you weren't completely honest with the government, they can rip that proffers up right away. At the time, Boeing's chief of safety, Mike Delaney, entered a not guilty plea on behalf of the planemaker during arraignment relatives of those killed to cry the company saying it committed the deadliest corporate crime in U.S. history. Well, let's not go that far, but certainly up there. The planes, however, were cleared to fly again in 2021 after Boeing overhauled an automated flight control system that activated erroneously in both crashes after promising to look into the plane safety issues. Officials, however, would only choose to ground 737s after a second crash this time in Ethiopia just five months later. Following an investigation in 2020, Boeing blamed both crashes on a failure in the plane's flight control system, which caused the plane to turn sharply downward while in the air. Can you imagine? Sitting there on this plane, reading a book, whatever the fuck it is you're doing, all of a sudden this takes place? 737 Max Jets were once again cleared to fly in November after two years after being grounded with Boeing at the time branding the plane safe for passengers. Boeing had previously agreed to a $200 million penalty from the SEC to settle charges that it negligently violated the anti-fraud provisions of U.S. securities law. So in other words, they can just break whatever law they want. They can just do whatever they want, and they're never going to be prosecuted. Must be nice. The agency argued that just one month after the first crash, the company selectively highlighted certain facts, implying pilot error and poor aircraft maintenance was what led to the crashes instead of technical issue. Well, of course, they got to blame somebody, right? Never can be them. Got to be somebody else. Let's blame the pilot. That release fell to disclose that the company knew a key flight handling system, the maneuvering, characteristics, augmentation system, posed safety issues and was never redesigned, the SEC argued. Then after the second crash, the agency said Boeing and Mullenberg assured the public that there was no surprise or gap in the federal certification of the max despite being aware of contrary information. In times of crisis and tragedy, it is especially important that public companies and executives provide full, fair and truthful disclosures to the markets, said SEC chair Gary Gensler in his press release. The Boeing company and its former CEO Dennis Mullenberg failed in this most basic obligation. They misled investors by providing assurances about the safety of the 737 max despite knowing about serious safety concerns. The SEC said both Boeing and Mullenberg in agreeing to pay, the penalties did not admit or deny the agency's findings. Oh, of course not. No denial here. We're not admitting nothing either though. Let's just pay this bill and keep it moving. And if you have the right amount of money, folks, as we have seen time and time again, you can pay your way out of anything. Boeing said the agreement fully resolves the SEC's inquiry and is part of the company's broader effort to responsibly resolve outstanding legal matters related to the 737 max accidents in a manner that serves the best interests of our shareholders, employees and other stakeholders. A company spokesman said, "We will never forget those lost on Lion Air Flight 610 and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302, and we have made broad and deep changes across our company in response to those incidents. He has the doors blowing open here in America as we have incidents over the Indian Ocean. Sure, you guys are doing a great job." Meanwhile, relatives in the remaining civil lawsuits have enlisted their own expert witnesses to help their case and address questions regarding their family members' final moments. Terrifying. Absolutely, positively terrifying to think about what it must have been like to be on one of those planes. One of those experts, aerospace, physiologist Troy Faborg, wrote in a court filing the victims very likely experienced issues such as panic, nausea, and vomiting, heart problems during the six-minute nosedive, giving credence to their relatives' argument. How can you say they didn't? How can anyone sit here and say that people weren't having heart attacks and all the rest of it? Because I know damn well that's what was happening. You know that you're plunging into the ocean or plunging to the ground from 30,000 feet up and you're alive and well while it's happening? Yeah, there's going to be some emotions. Vicki Norton, a commercial airline pilot, hired as a witness by the plaintiffs, also wrote, "It wasn't long before the progressive loss of control and ultimate dive to the ground would have not only been distressing but terror-inducing to all passengers on board." Feds will now decide whether Boeing, the five the terms of the deal, reach this past October. Just think about being on a roller coaster and what that's like. And then, times that by about 500 million. And as far as Mr. Barnett, you better believe I have some questions. Now does that mean that I'm going to sit here and tell you that it wasn't a suicide? I can't tell you that, I don't know. Same way I can't tell you that it was. We need to find out more details here and we need to hear from the authorities a little more about what went down. But even then, in situations like this, I remain skeptical. Because when there's so much on the line here, for a company like Boeing and then a gigantic coincidence like this happens, yeah, I have questions. And so far, no answers to any of those questions have been provided. So we're going to keep on top of this one, like the other stories, and see where it all ends up. All of the information that goes with this episode can be found in the description box.