Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – A former auditor at the company suppliers for Boeing named Joshua Dean reportedly died suddenly. This happens when the auditor is being a whistleblower or whistleblower Boeing safety scandal.
Quote Newsweek, Dean's death was announced by his aunt and sister on social media on Tuesday (30/4/2024). His mother wrote on Facebook that he had pneumonia in April and suffered a stroke following a Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infection.
“Dean was in good health and was known for having a healthy lifestyle, but died after contracting a sudden and rapidly spreading infection,” he explained.
Dean became whistleblower the second Boeing scandal to die mysteriously. Previously, Josh Barnett was found dead less than 2 months ago after reportedly shooting himself.
Dean is a quality observer auditor at Spirit AeroSystems, which is a supplier for the Boeing 737 MAX which experienced two deadly crashes. He accused Spirit AeroSystems of ignoring defects in the production of the 737 MAX.
Dean was initially employed by Spirit between March 2019 and May 2020, when he was among many staff fired by the company during mass layoffs. Dean returned to Spirit in late May 2021 as a product and process verification (PPV) core quality auditor.
In October 2022, it reported to management what it said was a serious manufacturing defect, but said no steps were taken. According to the lawsuit, Spirit allegedly “hid” the problems Dean reported from investors.
“The whistleblower claims that the company fired him in retaliation for flagging defects at the Wichita plant, using false justifications as a pretext to scapegoat and silence him,” Dean's lawsuit states.
Dean has also filed a complaint against Spirit with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) accusing the company of serious and egregious violations on the 737 production line at its factory. The investigation concluded that Dean's allegations had substance, but did not provide further details.
Dean's death occurred at a time when Boeing was beset by safety issues. This issue has enveloped almost all of Boeing's best-selling products, starting from the 737 MAX, 787 and 777.
Last January, a Boeing 737 MAX 9 aircraft owned by Alaska Airlines exploded. The incident caused the fuselage torn on the left side as the plane climbed after taking off from Portland, Oregon, United States (US) en route to Ontario, California.
As a result, the pilot was forced to turn around and make an emergency landing, with all 171 passengers and six crew on board safe. This also caused the US aviation regulator (FAA) to ban the Boeing 737 MAX 9 aircraft from flying.
From the wide-body aircraft line, an incident also hit a Boeing 787-9 belonging to the Chilean airline, LATAM. The plane reportedly free-falled on a flight from Sydney, Australia, to Auckland, New Zealand, last March. The incident left 50 passengers injured.
It is not yet clear what caused the incident. In a statement on Monday, LATAM blamed the injury on a “technical event during the flight that caused a forceful movement”.
Passengers said the fleet was rapidly losing altitude. This condition then threw passengers who were not fastened with seat belts to the ceiling of the plane.
In addition to the 787, in the same month, a tire fell off a United Airlines Boeing 777-200 after takeoff at San Francisco Airport. The plane was actually on its way to Osaka, Japan, but diverted to Los Angeles and landed safely.
The incident damaged several cars in an employee parking lot close to the airport. Several cars were damaged but there were no reports of injuries.
[Gambas:Video CNBC]
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