Sudden short infection. The second Boeing whistleblower has died

Dean worked as a quality controller at Spirit Aerosystems, which supplies Boeing with fuselages and other critical aircraft components.

Dean first filed a complaint with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) alleging “serious and gross misconduct by senior quality management on the 737 production line” in fuselage production. He was subsequently fired in April 2023, writes The Seattle Times.

He later testified against Spirit Aerosystems in December 2023. In a lawsuit he and other associates filed, they said the company “concealed from investors that it suffered from widespread and persistent quality deficiencies” and that the “quality failure” occurred because they were chasing maximum profits.

According to those close to him, Dean lived an active lifestyle and was healthy until recently. However, he suddenly fell ill with an infectious disease in April and died on Tuesday, April 30, reports The Independent. According to some American media, Dean contracted influenza type B and dangerous MRSA (Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus). He contracted pneumonia and was in critical condition in the hospital for two weeks.

“My handsome brother Joshua died this morning and is now with our little brother. I don’t know how much more my family can take. I don’t know how much more I can honestly take,” his sister Taylor Rae Roberts responded on her Facebook profile.

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Dean is the second Boeing whistleblower to die this year. In March, 62-year-old John Barnett, who, like Dean, had pointed out the flaws in the production of 737 models, was found dead. Barnett worked as a quality controller, spent 32 years at Boeing, and retired in 2017.

He was found dead in a car in a hotel parking lot. A few days before his death, he was giving evidence as part of a lawsuit against the company involving whistleblowers, the BBC reported. A 62-year-old man died on March 9 of “self-inflicted” injuries, the police are investigating.

Boeing has been struggling to ramp up production, particularly for its once best-selling 737 MAX planes. In January of this year, part of the fuselage of Alaska Airlines’ 737 MAX aircraft broke off in mid-air, to which the US FAA responded by prohibiting the company from increasing production of these aircraft. The FAA also said it found numerous non-compliance issues in Boeing’s supply chain.

Boeing CEO David Calhoun will step down at the end of this year due to the scandals of recent years. “Yes, we are in a difficult time right now,” Calhoun said in a letter to employees. He added that the company will do everything to make people have 100 percent confidence in Boeing again.

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