The heartbroken mother of the Boeing whistleblower who committed suicide has partly blamed the beleaguered company for his death.
John Barnett, 62, was found dead in his truck from a single gunshot wound to the head in a hotel parking lot in South Carolina on March 9, seven years after retiring following a 32-year career.
He was in town attending meetings as part of his lawsuit against Boeing, where he alleged that he was retaliated against for raising concerns about the company’s quality control.
Barnett’s mother, Vicky Stokes, and brother, Rodney Barnett, spoke to CBS on Thursday and gave their side of the story, saying the stress of the battle with Boeing was hard on Barnett.
Asked if he blamed Boeing for Barnett’s death, he added: “If this hadn’t gone on so long, I would still have my son, my kids would still have their brother and we wouldn’t be sitting here.”
Boeing Barnett whistleblower’s mother, Vicky Stokes, and brother, Rodney Barnett, spoke to CBS on Thursday and gave their side of the story.
Barnett, 62, was found dead in his truck from a single gunshot wound to the head in the parking lot of a hotel in South Carolina on March 9.
The family said Barnett lived his job for three decades, but became concerned after he was transferred to Boeing’s South Carolina plant in 2010 and noticed quality problems and procedures that weren’t being followed.
Stokes said Boeing retaliated after Barnett went public with his concerns, and that the whistleblower often embarrassed himself in work meetings about where he would be “called” before leaving the job in 2017, citing work-related stress.
“That would wear on anyone after seven or eight years,” the mother said.
When asked if they believe Barnett’s death was a suicide, his brother said the family is waiting for the investigation to finish before making a judgment.
Barnett’s attorney, Brian Knowles, told CBS that “the retaliation he faced was something he constantly endured.”
“He wasn’t trying to hurt Boeing, he was trying to save Boeing,” added the family’s attorney, Robert Turkewitz.
The family added that they want Barnett’s legacy to be that Boeing addresses the safety issues he spoke about.
Barnett’s death came during a break in testimony in a whistleblower retaliation lawsuit, where he alleged that under-pressure workers were deliberately putting substandard parts into airplanes on the assembly line.
He said that in some cases, second-rate parts were literally removed from scrap bins before being installed on planes being built to avoid delays. A 2017 review by the FAA confirmed some of his concerns and required Boeing to take action.
The family said Barnett lived his job for three decades, but became concerned after he was transferred to Boeing’s South Carolina plant in 2010 and noticed quality problems.
Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun to finally step down as head of troubled airline maker
Earlier this week, Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun announced he would resign at the end of the year in the wake of a safety crisis at the troubled aerospace giant.
The company has been plagued by problems, including a near-catastrophic incident on Jan. 5 when a fuselage panel on an Alaska Airlines 737 MAX 9 exploded mid-flight.
The company has since faced questions following several other potentially dangerous episodes, but regulators, airlines and passengers have been frustrated by Calhoun’s lack of answers.
Last week, the head of the Federal Aviation Administration criticized Boeing for focusing on “production” instead of “safety and quality.”
Administrator Michael Whitaker was not impressed with the aerospace giant after a visit to its facilities.
“My impressions were similar to the cultural survey that was just completed at Boeing and our audit, which is that there are issues around the safety culture at Boeing,” he told Lester Holt on NBC Nightly News in a segment that will air on Tuesday night.
Alaska Airlines resumed service of the Boeing 737 MAX 9 following a three-week grounding following an emergency landing on January 5.
A panel exploded in the fuselage of a 737 Max 9 plane carrying Alaska Airlines passengers on January 5.
‘Their priorities have been production, and not safety and quality. So what we’re really focused on now is changing that focus from production to safety and quality.”
The FAA has put the company under intense scrutiny and recently ordered an audit of assembly lines at a Boeing factory near Seattle, where the company builds planes such as the Alaska Airlines 737 Max that suffered a panel explosion. door.
No one was seriously injured on the flight to Alaska, but the plane was forced to make an emergency landing with a large hole in the cabin.
Investigators say bolts that help hold the panel in place were missing after repair work at the Boeing factory.
The incident has raised scrutiny on Boeing to its highest level since two Boeing 737 Max plane crashes in 2018 and 2019 that killed 346 people.