A whistleblower who accused Boeing’s supplier of ignoring defects has died. It’s the second in two months

According to the “Seattle Times”, Joshua Dean, 45 years old and known for having a healthy lifestyle, was infected by a bacteria highly resistant to antibiotics, contracted pneumonia and suffered a stroke. He died on Tuesday after two weeks in hospital.

Dean, a mechanical engineer, started working at Spirit in 2019. He was laid off the following year following pandemic-related cuts and returned to Spirit in May 2021 as a quality auditor. In October the following year, Dean raised concerns about improperly drilled holes in Boeing 373 Max plane parts, but claimed that flagging the problem had no effect. Focused on these defects, he did not notice another manufacturing flaw in the accessories that attach the vertical tail to the fuselage. When this was discovered in April 2023, he was fired.

The engineer alleged that the company fired him for flagging defects in improperly drilled holes, using a “false justification” as a pretext to “silence” him, according to a December 2023 lawsuit mentioned by “NPR” in January.

Joshua Dean also filed a complaint against Spirit with the Federal Aviation Administration, accusing the company of “serious and gross misconduct by senior quality management of the 737 production line.”

This is the second Boeing whistleblower to die suddenly, after John Barnett was found dead in March in his truck in a hotel parking lot less than two months ago. According to South Carolina authorities, 62-year-old Barnett died from an apparent “self-inflicted” gunshot wound. Known for raising concerns about Boeing’s production standards, Barnett worked for the company for 32 years and retired in 2017 for health reasons. In 2019, the whistleblower stated that the company’s employees were pressured to install lower quality parts during production and claimed to have discovered “serious” problems with the oxygen systems.

Boeing has been under fire since a 737 Max lost an emergency exit door shortly after takeoff from Portland on January 5, while flying with 117 people on board at an altitude of approximately 4876 meters. According to the preliminary report from the US agency responsible for transportation safety (NTSB), four screws were missing from the aircraft.