Boeing whistleblower Joshua Dean, a former quality auditor at Spirit AeroSystems, passed away after a brief illness. Earlier this year, another Boeing whistleblower also died. Dean’s actions came after two fatal crashes involving the 737 Max resulted in 346 deaths. He was terminated by Spirit last year but filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Labor, claiming his dismissal was in retaliation for bringing attention to security concerns.
Dean was represented by the same law firm as John “Mitch” Barnett, another Boeing whistleblower who died earlier this year. Barnett had uncovered potentially dangerous metal shards near flight control wiring and was ignored by management. Another whistleblower, Sam Salehpour, has also spoken out about the lack of safety culture at Boeing, claiming that employees who raise concerns are ignored, threatened, and sometimes endangered.
These incidents shed light on the challenges faced by whistleblowers in the aviation industry and the importance of addressing safety concerns in aircraft manufacturing. US regulators are currently investigating Boeing after a plane lost a door panel during a flight in January.
