John Barnett, the famous Boeing whistleblower, tragically passed away on March 11th. Barnett courageously blew the whistle on Boeing’s hazardous manufacturing practices at the North Charleston 787 Dreamliner plant, but his claims were ignored by his supervisors and denied by the company. At the time of his death, Barnett was in the midst of questioning for his legal case against Boeing. Barnett’s passing sent shockwaves through the whistleblower community and NWC, along with so many others, mourn his death.
Barnett’s claims about Boeing were far from unsubstantiated. A Federal Aviation Association (FAA) investigation in 2017 established that defective parts at the North Charleston plant had gone missing and were not being tracked, leaving the door open for these parts to end up back in the assembly line as Barnett claimed. Last week, the FAA stated that, following a six-week audit of the company, they found multiple instances where Boeing failed to comply with manufacturing quality control requirements. All of this comes as Boeing makes headlines for a string of accidents and serious aviation malfunctions.
Barnett’s death is a tragedy. He heroically called attention to Boeing’s safety hazards and we cannot let his claims fall through the cracks. We ask you to take action today by urging Congress and the White House to launch an investigation into Boeing Airlines and to hold the company accountable.
