前Boeing工程师John Barnett因揭露管理不当并作证，已go die

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https://www.telegraph.co.uk/us/news/202 ... nett-dead/

A former Boeing employee who exposed alleged safety problems at the company has been found dead.

John Barnett died from “self inflicted” injuries in a hotel car park on Saturday in South Carolina where he had been due to testify in a lawsuit against his former employer.

The 62-year-old drew public attention to what he said were bad practices at Boeing’s factory in Charleston, where he worked for seven years as a quality control manager making the 787 Dreamliner, an airliner used mainly on long-haul routes.

He exposed alleged errors in the company’s manufacturing process, claiming that employees had deliberately fitted substandard parts to planes because of pressure to produce them quickly.

He also said he had uncovered serious issues with oxygen systems, which could mean one in four breathing masks would not work in an emergency.

He later told the BBC that in some cases, sub-standard components had even been removed from scrap bins and fitted to planes that were being built to prevent delays on the production line.

Some of the concerns were upheld by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in 2017, and Boeing was forced to take remedial action.

After retiring the same year, having worked for Boeing for 32 years, Mr Barnett sued the company for allegedly denigrating his character and hampering his career progression because he had identified problems at the factory.

He had been attending interviews for the case in Charleston last week, but failed to turn up for a cross-examination by his own lawyers on Saturday.

A Charleston County Coroner confirmed on Monday that he had been found dead in his truck in a hotel car park, apparently from “self-inflicted” injuries, the BBC reported.

His death comes as Boeing faces intense scrutiny over its manufacturing process after a section of an Alaska Airlines plane’s fuselage fell off mid-flight over Oregon in January.

While the Alaska Airlines flight was able to land safely, the cabin rapidly depressurised and experts said if the incident had occurred at cruising altitude it could have been lethal. Passengers have sued the airline and manufacturer over what they say was a traumatic event.

The blowout was linked to loose bolts and led the FAA to ground all Boeing 737 Max 9 planes with a door plug. When asked for records relating to work done on the panel at one of its factories by the National Transportation Safety Board, Boeing said it could not find them.

This week, footage emerged of a United Boeing B777-200 flight losing a tire mid-air after take-off in San Francisco, causing damage to multiple cars. The flight was forced to make an emergency landing.

Meanwhile, roughly 50 people were treated by medics 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.

A six-week investigation by the FAA, published last week, found “multiple instances” where Boeing and one of its suppliers “allegedly failed to comply with manufacturing quality control requirements”.

The regulator said it had discovered “non-compliance issues in Boeing’s manufacturing process control, parts handling and storage, and product control” and ordered the company to launch an action plan to fix the issues.

The US Department of Justice has launched a criminal investigation.