BOEING whistleblower Joshua Dean has died after a sudden illness, his family has confirmed.
Dean was a Spirit AeroSystems employee who claimed he was fired after warning people about the Boeing supplier’s negligence in producing the 737 MAX.
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The 45-year-old man who worked as a quality auditor flagged inadequate production standards at the Witchita, Kansas, factory, which allegedly saw defects ignored, for The Seattle Times.
In a Facebook post on Friday, Dean’s mother said her son had contracted a MRSA infection, causing pneumonia and a stroke.
She said her son was “fighting for his life.”
Dean’s aunt Carol Parsons has since confirmed his death two weeks after he was declared in critical condition, despite already being in good health.
“It was brutal what he went through… heartbreaking,” she told the outlet.
His sudden decline began when he had trouble breathing, which led to him being intubated and eventually placed on an ECMO machine that controls heart and lung function.
According to Parsons, Dean’s doctors were considering amputating his hands and feet.
His lawyer Brian Knowles called his death a “loss to the aviation community and the flying public.”
Dean filed a complaint with the Federal Aviation Administration alleging “serious and gross misconduct by senior quality management of the 737 production line” at the Spirit factory.
The company then fired him in April 2023 and he claimed this was a result of raising his concerns.
“I think they were sending a message to someone else. If you speak too loudly, we will silence you,” he said. NPR in January.
“I’m not saying they don’t want you to go out there and inspect a job. You know, they want it.
“But if you make too much trouble, you’ll get Josh’s treatment. You’ll get what happened to me.”
He also testified in a lawsuit filed by Spirit shareholders in which he alleged “excessive” defects at the Kansas plant.
These allegations were vehemently denied by a Spirit spokesperson, who told NPR that the allegations are being challenged in court.
Meanwhile, in a tribute to the whistleblower, Knowles praised Dean’s “tremendous courage”.
“He possessed tremendous courage to stand up for what he considered true and right and raised issues of quality and safety,” Knowles said. Al Jazeera.
“Aviation companies must encourage and encourage those who raise these concerns.
“Otherwise, safety and quality will not truly be these companies’ top priorities.”
“This sudden loss is stunning news here at Spriti and for their loved ones,” a Spirit AeroSystems spokesperson told the news outlet.
“Our thoughts are with Josh Dean’s family.”
The company is under immense pressure following an in-flight failure that caused the door panel of a 737 MAX 9 to explode in January.
BOEING’S RECENT MISTAKES
Boeing has faced scrutiny this year after a series of troubling malfunctions.
Here is a list of some of the biggest incidents related to the aircraft manufacturer:
- January 5th – An Alaska Airlines flight is forced to make an emergency landing after a window was ripped out mid-flight.
- January 24th – A Delta flight loses its front tire during takeoff at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport in Atlanta, Georgia.
- March 7 – A wheel falls off a United Airlines flight to Japan during takeoff.
- March 13th – A Boeing 777 is caught leaking hydraulic fluid during the takeoff of a United Airlines flight from Sydney, Australia, to San Francisco, California.
- 14th March – An American Airlines flight had to make an emergency landing after one of its tires burst.
- March 19th – The windshield of a Boeing 737 breaks when an Alaskan Airlines flight lands.
- March 31 – A pilot on a United Airlines flight is forced to return to Frankfurt airport after feces from the waste tank in one of the bathrooms overflowed, causing a bad smell in the cabin.
- April 2nd – An Alaska Airlines flight is forced to return to the airport after a faulty toilet overflowed and caused water to pour into the cabin.
- April 8 – A Southwest Airlines flight had to make an emergency landing in Denver, Colorado after the engine cover was torn off mid-flight.
Sprit was found to have installed the panel that caused the incident on Alaska Airlines Flight 1282, raising concerns about the safety of Boeing planes.
Dean’s death comes less than two months after John Barnett, another Boeing whistleblower, was found dead of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound.
The 62-year-old worked at Boeing for 32 years before retiring in 2017.
At the time of his death, Barnett was providing evidence of alleged wrongdoing at Boeing to investigators working on a case against the company, according to a report. BBC report.
Barnett was found in his pickup truck on March 9 in the parking lot of a South Carolina hotel where he was staying while completing his interviews with investigators.
Although his death was ruled an apparent suicide “due to a self-inflicted gunshot wound” by the Charleston County Medical Examiner’s Office, a police investigation into Barnett’s death is ongoing, according to The Times.
Both Dean and Barnett were represented by the same South Carolina-based law firm.
“Whistleblowers are necessary. They reveal wrongdoing and corruption in the interests of society,” Knowles told the Times, declining to speculate on the timing of the two deaths.
“It takes a lot of courage to stand up.
“It’s a difficult situation. Our thoughts are now with John’s family and Josh’s family.”
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