Another Boeing-Linked Whistleblower Dies Suddenly
Joshua Dean, 45, of Wichita, Kansas, worked as a quality auditor at Spirit AeroSystems’ flagship manufacturing site, which supplies Boeing with various plane parts — including the door plug that popped off an Alaska Airlines 737 MAX flight, forcing a rough landing in January. Dean, who held a degree in mechanical engineering and had decades of experience, was among the first whistleblowers to claim that Spirit had turned a blind eye to defects on the controversial airliner.
Dean died suddenly Tuesday — several weeks after Boeing whistleblower John Barnett supposedly killed himself in a truck outside his South Carolina hotel amidst depositions in Charleston. Police are still investigating Barnett’s death.
Barnett and Dean were both represented by the same South Carolina-based law firm, and both raised awareness about quality control issues in the Boeing supply chain. . .
According to the Seattle Times, Dean was fired in April 2023 for allegedly bungling inspections, leading to the shipment of defective tail fin fittings to Boeing. Dean alternatively maintained that he had been canned in retaliation for having repeatedly flagged errors he observed on the factory floor — errors he suggested Spirit supervisors had ignored. He indicated as much in his November 2023 wrongful termination complaint to the Department of Labor.
A former co-worker, Lance Thompson, told the Times that Dean frustrated the mechanics on the factory floor precisely because of his attention to detail. (Read more from “Another Boeing-Linked Whistleblower Dies Suddenly” HERE)
