‘If anything happens it’s NOT suicide’: Boeing whistleblower’s pal reveals fateful last chat before he was found dead
A PAL of Boeing whistleblower John Barnett has revealed their fateful last chat before he was found dead.
The 62-year-old had worked for the aviation giant for 32 years before he retired in 2017.
The staff-turned-whistleblower was found lifeless in his truck just days after giving evidence against Boeing.
He died from a "self-inflicted" wound on March 9, the coroner said, and police are investigating the death.
But a close family friend has now revealed how Barnett's last chat with her turned out to be some sort of "premonition", reported.
Pal Jennifer said Barnett anticipated his death and that a story would emerge that he had killed himself - but told her not to believe it.
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"I know that he did not commit suicide. There's no way," she said.
Jennifer’s mother and Barnett’s were best friends, with both families also being very close.
Barnett had recently visited Jennifer ahead of his deposition to Boeing lawyers, and the pair discussed what could potentially happen to him after he blew the whistle.
Jennifer said she was aware that her friend had filed a damaging complaint against Boeing, who claimed the aerospace giant retaliated against him when he blew the whistle on unsafe practices.
She revealed: "He wasn't concerned about safety because I asked him.
"I said, 'Aren't you scared?' And he said, 'No, I ain't scared, but if anything happens to me, it's not suicide.'"
Last week, Barnett had provided a formal deposition to Boeing lawyers and underwent questioning by both investigators and the company's attorneys.
He was due for further questioning last Saturday, and when he did not appear for the interview, investigators sought him out and ultimately found his body at the hotel.
“We are saddened by Mr. Barnett’s passing, and our thoughts are with his family and friends," Boeing representative Jim Proulx told The U.S. Sun in an emailed statement.
Beginning in 2010, Barnett was a quality manager at Boeing North Charleston factory producing 787 Dreamliner planes — relied on for long-haul routes.
In 2019, he told BBC reporters that he had seen workers under pressure purposely fitting sub-standard parts onto aircraft on the production line.
Barnett claimed that defective parts were mishandled and sometimes lost or refitted to planes from the company scrapyard to meet production timelines.
He also alleged that he had discovered major issues in some of the planes' oxygen systems which could lead to one in four masks not functioning properly.
Barnett attributed much of the lower-quality work on the aircraft to an increasingly rushed assembly process that was encouraged by executives who wanted to speed up production.
Barnett said he had told Boeing managers about his concerns, but his warnings ultimately went unheeded.
"Based on my years of experience and past history of plane accidents, I believe it's just a matter of time before something big happens with a 787," Barnett said in 2019.
"Boeing and the FAA implement a rigorous inspection process to ensure that all our airplanes are safe and built with the highest levels of safety and quality," a Boeing spokesperson told The Sun Online Travel at the time.
"FAA inspectors are located at all Boeing final assembly facilities and as part of their normal regulatory oversight process and have complete access to the factory and flight line.
"All our planes go through multiple safety and test flights, as well as extensive Boeing, FAA, and airline inspections before they leave our factory and before the traveling public boards those planes for the first time," representatives said.
Boeing denied Barnett's claims to the BBC, but a 2017 investigation by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) upheld some of Barnett's assertions.
The FAA found that at least 53 "non-conforming" parts had unknown locations in the factory and were essentially lost.
Also in 2017, Boeing announced that the company had "identified some oxygen bottles received from the supplier that were not deploying properly," but denied that any of the problematic canisters were actually fitted on aircraft.
Sky high chaos: a timeline of Boeing incidents
BOEING has found itself at the centre of increasingly concerning reports in recent months after a spate of malfunctions on its planes. Here is a timeline of the biggest incidents surrounding the American aircraft maker.
March 2024 - Boeing 787 LATAM LA800 "sudden nose-dive"
March 2024 - Wheel falls off Boeing 777 United Airlines plane
January 2024 - Boeing Alaska Airlines ripped window
January 2024 - Boeing 747 Delta Airlines plane loses front tyre
March 2019 - Boeing 737 MAX 8 Ethiopia Airlines fatal crash
October 2018 - Boeing 737 MAX 8 Indonesia Lion Air fatal crash
Boeing down swinging
Boeing has made headlines in recent months for having a number of serious issues with its planes.
Fifty passengers were injured on a LATAM flight on a Boeing 787 Dreamliner flying between Australia and New Zealand over the weekend due to a "technical issue" that caused the plane to take a nosedive.
And the company is facing a criminal investigation over an Alaskan Airlines flight on a 737 Max Airliner after a door blowout at 16,000 feet earlier this year.
Yesterday, a Boeing 777 was forced to make an emergency landing after one of its tyres reportedly blew just days after another Boeing lost a wheel during take-off.
Fire crews rushed to the runway to meet the jet as it touched down on Wednesday evening.
All passengers and crew aboard the AA Flight 345 were able to disembark safely.
Earlier this week, a Boeing 777 was caught on camera leaking hydraulic fluid during take-off before it was forced to make yet another emergency landing.
And last week a wheel dropped from another Boeing during take-off - forcing pilots to land in Los Angeles.
The Boeing 777 bound for Japan lost its wheel mid-air shortly after taking off from San Francisco Airport.
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The pilot of another plane behind it could be heard saying “Hey… Tower, the 75 on the runway just lost the nose tire,” in cockpit recordings released by .