Boeing Whistleblower's Alarming Claims Resurface After Air India Crash
An Air India Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner flying from Ahmedabad to London Gatwick crashed shortly after takeoff on Thursday, killing 241 of 242 people on board. It was the first fatal accident involving a Boeing 787 since the aircraft entered service in 2009.
The crash has turned the spotlight back on long-standing concerns about Boeing's manufacturing practices. It brings a renewed focus on John Barnett, a former quality manager and Boeing whistleblower who flagged safety lapses in the Dreamliner programme before his mysterious death last year.
Who Was John Barnett?
John Barnett was born on February 23, 1962, in California. After his parents' separation, he moved to Louisiana, with his mother and three older brothers. A graduate of Bolton High School, Mr Barnett started his career as a cab driver before joining the US Air Force. When training opportunities fell through, he switched paths and joined Rockwell International in Palmdale, California, where he worked on parts for NASA's Space Shuttle programme, including the Atlantis orbiter.
In the 1980s, Mr Barnett also worked as an electrician on the B-1 Lancer bomber. He later settled on Camano Island, Washington, and joined Boeing in 1988 as a quality inspector. He rose through the ranks and, by 2010, was working at Boeing's South Carolina plant in North Charleston, the assembly line for the 787 Dreamliner.
What John Barnett Said About Boeing
At the North Charleston plant between 2010 and 2017, Mr Barnett raised red flags about what he described as a steady decline in safety protocols. According to him, employees were being pressured to overlook defects and meet production quotas.
John Barnett raised serious concerns about how Boeing was building its planes. He said that tiny metal shavings were left near important wires, which could cause dangerous problems mid-flight. He also claimed that about one in four oxygen masks might not work in an emergency. He also said some parts were missing or not properly recorded during the building process, showing poor safety checks.
In 2017, he filed formal complaints with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). The FAA did confirm certain issues he highlighted and instructed Boeing to fix them. OSHA later dismissed his claims, ruling in favour of Boeing in 2021, a decision Mr Barnett appealed.
He continued to allege that Boeing retaliated against him, blocking promotions, isolating him from teams, and creating a hostile work environment. After facing health challenges, John Barnett retired in 2017.
In 2019, John Barnett went public with his allegations in media interviews. He was later featured in the 2022 Netflix documentary ' Downfall: The Case Against Boeing ', which examined the company's safety culture, particularly after the 737 MAX disasters.
Even after retirement, Mr Barnett continued to speak out. Following the Alaska Airlines door plug blowout incident in early 2024, he again raised concerns about ongoing quality control failures at Boeing.
How Did John Barnett Die?
On March 9, 2024, John Barnett was found dead in his pickup truck outside a hotel in Charleston, South Carolina. He had been staying there while preparing to testify in his whistleblower retaliation case against Boeing.
When he failed to appear for a scheduled deposition, police conducted a welfare check and found him with a gunshot wound to the head. A handgun was in his right hand, and forensic evidence confirmed it was a suicide, according to authorities.
A handwritten note was discovered in the vehicle, which said, "I can't do this any longer. F**k Boeing. I pray Boeing pays."
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Time of India
44 minutes ago
- Time of India
Air India plane crash: Is seat 11A safest on plane? Not really, experts say
Representative image LONDON: The survival of a passenger who escaped through an exit door seconds after his Air India flight crashed killing everyone else on board has prompted speculation over whether his seat, 11A, is the safest. Aviation experts say it is not so straightforward because aircraft vary widely in seat configurations, crashes are unique and survival often hinges on a complex interplay of factors. "Each accident is different, and it is impossible to predict survivability based on seat location," said Mitchell Fox, a director at Flight Safety Foundation, a U.S.-based nonprofit. Viswashkumar Ramesh said his 11A seat was near an emergency exit on the London-bound Air India Boeing 787 Dreamliner that crashed in Ahmedabad on Thursday and he managed to walk out. Sitting next to an exit door might help you survive an accident but it won't always be 11A because aircraft can have dozens of different configurations. "In this particular instance, because the passenger was sitting adjacent to the emergency exit, this was obviously the safest seat on the day," said Ron Bartsch, Chairman at Sydney-based AvLaw Aviation Consulting. "But it's not always 11A, it's just 11A on this configuration of the Boeing 787." by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Giao dịch CFD với công nghệ và tốc độ tốt hơn IC Markets Đăng ký Undo A 2007 Popular Mechanics study of crashes since 1971 found that passengers towards the back of the plane had better survival odds. Some experts suggest the wing section offers more stability. Sitting next to an exit door, like Ramesh, gives you an opportunity to be one of the first out of the plane, although some exits don't function after a crash. The opposite side of the plane was blocked by the wall of a building it crashed into, he said. In January of last year, a panel missing several bolts blew off the side of a Boeing 737 MAX mid-flight, creating a gaping hole and damaging the adjacent seat. Fortunately, no one was seated there at the time, and the incident resulted in no fatalities. Sitting by the aisle might offer you a speedier escape, but it increases the likelihood of being hit in the head by luggage falling out of the overhead bins - a much more common occurrence than major crashes. Paying attention to the safety briefing at the start of your flight is likely the best way to improve your chances of survival, experts say. Disciplined compliance with cabin crew evacuation advice was a key factor in saving the lives of all 379 passengers and crew aboard a Japan Airlines flight in January last year. REUTERS
Mint
an hour ago
- Mint
Explained: What black box holds inside and what can it reveal about Air India plane crash?
The flight data recorder from the crashed Air India flight was recovered on Friday, which is expected to provide a critical understanding of the cause of the plane crash that claimed the lives of 241 passengers and several people on the ground. The London-bound Boeing 787 crashed into a medical college hostel in a residential area of Gujarat's Ahmedabad shortly after takeoff on Thursday, June 12. The plane's digital flight data recorder or black box was recovered from a rooftop near the crash site, and the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau said that it had begun its work with 'full force.' Meanwhile, Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu said in a post on X that the black box recovery marks an 'important step forward in the investigation'. The Flight Data Recorder (Black Box) has been recovered within 28 hours from the accident site in Ahmedabad by AAIB. This marks an important step forward in the investigation. This will significantly aid the enquiry into the incident, Naidu added. A black box in aviation refers to two critical flight recording devices on an aircraft: Flight Data Recorder (FDR) and Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR). Flight Data Recorder – This device records important flight parameters like speed, altitude, engine performance, heading, and flight control movements. Cockpit Voice Recorder – This records audio from the cockpit, including conversations between pilots, alarms, and ambient sounds. In the investigation of the Ahmedabad crash, the black box will play a key role in identifying whether the disaster resulted from a mechanical malfunction, engine failure, bird strike, onboard fire, or human error. The black box will offer comprehensive information about the crew's MAYDAY transmission, any system-generated alerts, and their efforts to regain control in the critical seconds following takeoff. Furthermore, the device will reveal information about the engine and control settings, in addition to what the voice recorder will show about the cockpit conversations, Paul Fromme, a mechanical engineer with the UK-based Institution of Mechanical Engineers said in a statement, as reported by the Associated Press. The DGCA said its enhanced inspection will include checks of various systems and a review of take-off parameters of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft of Air India owned by the Tata Group. Both FDR and CVR devices always collect and save data during a flight. The FDR logs technical and performance metrics, while the CVR records sound inside the cockpit, according to reports. In the event of an accident, this stored data is retrieved and analysed to understand what was happening mechanically and among the crew in the moments leading up to the crash. Aviation safety consultant Jeff Guzzetti, a former crash investigator for both the US National Transportation Safety Board and Federal Aviation Administration, said investigators should be able to answer some important questions about what caused the crash as soon as next week as long as the flight data recorder is in good shape. Investigators likely are looking at whether wing flaps were set correctly, whether the engine lost power, whether alarms were going off inside the cockpit and whether the plane's crew correctly inputted information about the hot temperature outside and the weight of the fuel and passengers, Guzzetti said, as reported by AP. Mistakes in the data could result in the wing flaps being set incorrectly, he said. (With inputs from agencies)
Hans India
an hour ago
- Hans India
The Seat 11A Mystery: How the lone survivor cheated death!
New Delhi: Only one person walked out of the shattered Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner. British-Indian national Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, seated in 11A, emerged as the sole survivor of Air India flight AI-171, which crashed just moments after takeoff from Ahmedabad's Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport. The crash, India's deadliest single-aircraft disaster in decades, occurred at 1:38 pm on Thursday. The aircraft, bound for London Gatwick, went down seconds after departure, striking a multi-storey hostel housing resident doctors of BJ Medical College in the Meghaninagar area. Among the dead were 229 passengers and 12 crew members. Officials said five medical students on the ground also died. But Ramesh, a 40-year-old businessman based in the UK, walked out of the wreckage dazed, bloodied and burned. His brother, seated in 11J across the aisle, was not as fortunate. "Everything happened in front of my eyes. I thought I would die," Ramesh said hours after Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited him at Ahmedabad Civil Hospital. Seat 11A is positioned in the first row of economy class, directly behind the business cabin and close to the emergency exits on the left side. When the aircraft hit the ground, the front-left section, including 11A, collapsed into the ground floor of the hostel building, not the upper levels where the aircraft's main body suffered its worst destruction. "The side where I was seated fell into the ground floor of the building," Ramesh recounted. "There was some space. When the door broke, I saw that space and I just jumped out." Ramesh was lucky. The section opposite him, where the plane had rammed into a wall, was sealed off by debris and fire. None of the occupants from those rows survived. "The door must've broken on impact," he said. "There was a wall on the opposite side, but near me, it was open. I ran. I don't know how." Photos from the site confirm his account. The midsection and tail of the plane were reduced to charred rubble. But the forward fuselage had partially broken off before catching fire, allowing a narrow exit path. "I don't know how I came out of it alive," Ramesh said. "For a while, I thought I was about to die. But when I opened my eyes, I saw I was alive. And I opened my seat belt and got out of there. The airhostess and aunty uncle all died before my eyes." Ramesh is now in bed 11 of Ward B7 at Ahmedabad Civil Hospital, under 24-hour monitoring. His ward is guarded by the Gujarat ATS and the city crime branch. PM Modi arrived in Ahmedabad on Friday and visited the crash site and later the hospital, where he met Ramesh. "He asked me what happened," Ramesh said. "I told him I don't know how I lived. It all happened so fast." The fact that only one person survived has drawn comparisons to past aviation disasters where a single passenger lived. In 1987, four-year-old Cecelia Cichan survived the Northwest Flight 255 crash in Detroit. In 2009, Bahia Bakari, 12, was the only survivor of Yemenia Flight 626 crash near the Comoros Islands. More recently, co-pilot Jim Polehinke survived the 2006 Comair crash in Kentucky.
