John Barnett (whistleblower)

Barnett was born February 23, 1962, in Mount Shasta, California. He was known by nicknames Swamp Doggy, Swampy, and Mitch. He grew up in the Crossroads region of Louisiana and had three older brothers. His father was a rail worker. After his parents separated, Barnett and his brothers moved with his mother to her hometown of Alexandria, Louisiana. Barnett enlisted in the United States Air Force (USAF). After completing basic training camp, there weren't any available training slots for new recruits. Barnett instead took a job in Palmdale, California at Rockwell International manufacturing parts for the Space Shuttle program, including the Space Shuttle Atlantis, which were operated by NASA. In the 1980s, Barnett worked as an electrician on the Rockwell B-1 Lancer, which is still operated by the USAF. While living in the Seattle area, Barnett raced stock cars at Evergreen Speedway. While at Boeing, Barnett attended night classes at Seattle University, but said his "12-hours a day, seven days a week" work schedule led him to decide to drop out before graduating. == Boeing and whistleblowing ==

Barnett worked his way into a lead position Barnett blamed a culture shift between the Everett and South Carolina plants on the latter's management being from the military, where he said he was pressured not to document defects and to follow non-Boeing procedures. He characterized the defense-based management's motto as "we’re in Charleston and we can do anything we want" and their wishes to, "...push planes out the door and make the cash register ring." He later said of the factory and its management, "...the whole place smelled of French fries," In 2017, Barnett filed an FAA AIR 21 whistleblower complaint against Boeing with OSHA. Documentation and process procedures In 2013, a senior manager downgraded Barnett's employment level for "using email to express process violations" in place of face-to-face communication, which Barnett "took to mean he shouldn't put problems in writing." The manager also pushed Barnett to get better at "working in the gray areas and help find a way while maintaining compliance." Also in April 2024, quality engineer Sam Salehpour reported similar issues after a 2021 delay of the 787 due to unacceptable fuselage gaps. Salehpour claimed that to address the flaws the company took "shortcuts" that forced the gaps closed, instead of engineering new parts. Salehpour has also filed a whistleblower complaint with the FAA against Boeing. A former Boeing mechanic, Davin Fischer, reported similar issues working on the 737. Boeing's chief financial officer, Brian West, stated at a March 2024 investor conference, "For years, we prioritized the movement of the airplane through the factory over getting it done right. And that's got to change." Use of defective parts and emergency oxygen equipment failure Barnett claimed that, in 2016, a senior manager installed a scrapped, dented hydraulic tube in a plane. He filed a complaint with human resources. Boeing stated that they had investigated and did not substantiate those claims. In 2017, Barnett's team found that 25% of the oxygen systems for the 787 would fail to send oxygen through the cylinders to passengers in the case of an emergency. Barnett said that his report to management was stonewalled, so he alerted the FAA. Boeing's internal investigation found malfunctioning oxygen masks. A 2017 FAA report determined that at least 53 "non-conforming" parts were missing, and ordered Boeing to take remedial action. Debris Barnett said that he was getting complaints about debris and various items being left inside of their planes, including tools, drawings, and fasteners. On a test flight of a 787, a ladder was found inside a horizontal stabilizer. Barnett said if it had not been found, the ladder could have fallen and caused the plane to malfunction. Metal shavings Barnett reported that he had discovered "clusters of metal shavings", due to the process of securing titanium e-nuts, left near electrical systems for flight controls, which could have "catastrophic" results if the shavings were able to penetrate the wiring. He stated that he repeatedly urged his bosses to take action, but they instead transferred him to another part of the plant. In 2017, the FAA issued a directive mandating removal of shavings pre-delivery. Boeing claimed they were complying and working to improve the design to avoid the issue, but determined that the issue was not a flight safety issue. Retaliation Barnett alleged that he was denied a promotion he said he was the most qualified applicant for, demoted, transferred out of his position in quality inspection into an undesirable department, and blocked from a job at Michoud Assembly Facility, a NASA center in New Orleans that manufactures rocket parts. == Retirement ==

According to Barnett's family, Barnett's doctor stated that the job-related stress would cause Barnett a heart attack unless he quit. He retired in 2017. In December 2021, the United States Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation released a whistleblower report determining that the FAA failed to administer adequate oversight to address concerns from Boeing and FAA whistleblowers. Boeing had settled a criminal charge with the United States Department of Justice in September that year for conspiracy to defraud the government regarding fatal design flaws in the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System of the 737 Max. Barnett was featured in the 2022 Netflix documentary Downfall: The Case Against Boeing. In early 2024, Barnett issued further warnings regarding Boeing's work culture and vehicle safety following Alaska Airlines Flight 1282, in which a door was blown out. == Death ==

Barnett was in Charleston, South Carolina, the week of March 12, 2024, for his deposition stemming from his 2017 whistleblower complaint against Boeing. Before his death, he had given a deposition and had been undergoing direct examination by his own legal team and cross-examination by Boeing's. At 9:42am on March 9, a hotel staff member heard a gunshot. At 10am, Barnett's attorney called the hotel asking for a wellness check. He was found dead shortly afterward in the hotel parking lot in his truck, with a single gunshot wound to the head. He had his legally owned pistol in his hand, with his finger still on the trigger, and left a suicide note in the passenger seat, on which he wrote, "I can't do this any longer" and "I pray Boeing pays." Video surveillance showed Barnett left the hotel on the evening of March 8, but returned a few minutes later and re-parked, remaining inside his vehicle. No activity was observed of Barnett or his vehicle until the following morning, on March 9, when at 7:20am the vehicle lights blinked on and off. His vehicle was found to be locked and the key fob was in Barnett's pocket. After requests from the family and Barnett's attorneys, the Charleston Police Department investigated the circumstances that led to his death. and on May 17, they concluded that Barnett's death was a suicide related to chronic stress, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) caused by the whistleblower case. At the time of his death, he lived in Pineville, Louisiana, Barnett's family said that "he was looking forward to having his day in court and hoped that it would force Boeing to change its culture," and that "he was suffering from PTSD and anxiety attacks as a result of being subjected to the hostile work environment at Boeing which we believe led to his death". His attorneys said in a statement after the release of the coroner's report, "Mr. Barnett’s last words make clear that while Boeing may not have pulled the trigger, the company is responsible for his death." In May 2024, the conspiracy theory Joshua Dean, a former quality inspector for the contractor Spirit AeroSystems, a 2005 Boeing spin-off, checked himself into the hospital after experiencing difficulty breathing from contracting influenza B and Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). He died two weeks later (May 1, 2024) after developing pneumonia and suffering a stroke. Dean and other workers at the Wichita, Kansas factory testified that they had been instructed to downplay or hide production defects on the 737 Max, which had a door plug blow off mid-flight in January 2024. The deaths of Barnett and Dean prompted more than 10 new whistleblowers from Boeing and Spirit to come forward with similar allegations. Santiago Paredes, another Spirit whistleblower, dismissed the conspiracy theories. ==See also==