Another Boeing whistleblower has died after the family of Joshua Dean, a quality auditor at supplier Spirit AeroSystems, confirmed he died on Tuesday aged 44, three months after testifying against the giant aircraft manufacturing.
Dean had accused Boeing of ignoring warnings about manufacturing defects in the controversial 737 Max in a shareholder lawsuit against Spirit, the maker of the door jam that exploded in mid-air on an Alaska Airlines flight in January.
He was fired from his job in April 2023. “I think they were sending a message to someone else. If you’re too loud, we’ll shut you up,” he told NPR in a February 2024 interview.
Dean’s aunt Carol Parsons confirmed his death in a series of Facebook posts, as did other family members in messages seen by MailOnline. Parsons also confirmed his death in a statement to the Seattle Times.
Parsons told the newspaper that Dean went to a hospital in Wichita, Kansas, where he lived, after experiencing difficulty breathing. While there, Dean developed MRSA and pneumonia and had to be intubated.
“Our hearts go out to Josh Dean’s family. This sudden loss is stunning news here and to his loved ones,” said Joe Buccino, spokesperson for Spirit AeroSystems.
Boeing has long denied claims by Dean and other whistleblowers that the company deliberately ignored safety warnings.
Josh Dean was employed by Spirit AeroSystems based in Wichita, Kansas
As recently as Monday, Dean was conscious and communicating with doctors, his mother said in a Facebook post. At the time, a doctor told him he had a “50/50 chance of living.”
“Josh is very depressed, scared, sleeping a lot and not responding as much as he was a few days ago and has not taken any sedatives or painkillers,” his mother wrote.
In his final days, Dean was breathing on an ECMO machine. “The doctor asked him if he wanted the machine turned off, and he didn’t answer. I told the doctor he didn’t know what he wanted, I’m sure he wanted to live,” his mother added.
She went on to say that her son had been sedated and a procedure had been put in place to investigate the damage to his lungs caused by the pneumonia he had recovered from.
Doctors discovered that Dean had contracted MRSA and tested positive for influenza B. Further analysis revealed that he had also suffered a stroke.
On Wednesday, Parsons wrote in a Facebook post: “I am grateful for the prayers of my family and friends for this young man. He passed away yesterday morning and his absence will be deeply felt. We will always love you Josh.
Dean’s brother, Justin, died last January at the age of 26.
In January, Dean told the Wall Street Journal that he was fired because he pointed out that holes had been improperly drilled in the fuselage, which his employer denied.
“At Spirit, we know that if you make too much noise and cause too much trouble, you will get emotional. It doesn’t mean you completely ignore things, but they don’t want you to find everything and write it down,” he said.
Fuselage sections of the Boeing Co. 737 lie on the assembly floor at Spirit AeroSystems in Wichita, Kansas, in a file photo.
In March, another Boeing whistleblower, John Barnett, committed suicide amid a lawsuit against Boeing. He died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Dean and Barnett were represented by the same attorney, Brian Knowles, who declined to speculate on his clients’ sudden deaths in brief comments to the Seattle Times.
“We need whistleblowers. They highlight wrongdoing and corruption in the interest of society. It takes a lot of courage to stand up,” Knowles told the outlet.
Dean described a pizza party held at the Wichita plant to celebrate a drop in the number of defects reported, saying that discussions over the meal quickly devolved into the observation that the gains were due solely to underreporting issues .
“We have a pizza party because we reduce defects. But we don’t reduce defects. We just don’t report them, you know what I mean? ” Dean said in his interview with NPR.
He later told the station that his father and grandfather previously worked at the same Wichita factory as him and said he quickly became frustrated with the workplace culture.
“Now, I’m not saying they don’t want you to go and inspect a job. You know, they do. But if you make too much trouble, you’ll get the Josh treatment. You will understand what happened to me,” he said.
Dean’s complaints are part of a lawsuit filed by shareholders against Spirit in December, alleging the company failed to disclose the defects.
Spirit told the Journal that it strongly denies the allegations in the lawsuit and remains “focused on the quality of every aircraft that leaves our facilities.”
Boeing engineer Sam Salehpour testifies before the U.S. Senate Investigating Subcommittee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.
Last month, Boeing engineer Sam Salehpour said excessive force was applied to assemble the panels on the 787 assembly line, increasing the risk of fatigue or microscopic cracks in the material that could cause it to break.
Boeing officials described how sections of a fuselage are brought together, shims are added to fill gaps, holes are drilled and cleaned, and fasteners are attached to apply a “pulling force” that in 99 percent of cases cases, results in margins not exceeding 0.000 m. 005 inches (0.127 millimeters) apart – the width of a human hair, they said. A gap issue was discovered in 2019 between two panels, leading to design and assembly changes, they said.
Boeing has conducted tests replicating 165,000 flights with no signs of fatigue in the composite structure, said Steve Chisholm, Boeing vice president of structural engineering. The 787 averages 600 flights a year, he said.
The company said planes already in use are proving safe. Chisholm said 671 Dreamliners have undergone intensive inspections for 6-year-old aircraft and eight have undergone 12-year inspections with no evidence of fatigue in the composite skins.
Cracks were found on metal parts, including a piece above where the wings join the fuselage, and Boeing issued inspection guidelines for those parts, officials said.
The 787 Dreamliner is a twin-aisle aircraft often used on international flights since its debut in 2011. The composite material makes the aircraft lighter, contributing to better fuel efficiency.
A series of battery shots briefly grounded the planes. Deliveries of the plane were sometimes interrupted due to questions about gaps between fuselage panels that were wider than Boeing standards allowed, the use of unapproved titanium parts from an Italian supplier and defects in a pressure partition.
The Federal Aviation Administration must inspect and approve every 787 that rolls off the assembly line before it can be shipped to an airline customer.
Whistleblower Salehpour claims that after he raised safety concerns about the 787, Boeing transferred him to work on an older wide-body plane, the 777. He told the Seattle Times that he had seen workers jumping on the fuselage panels to align them, which Boeing disputes. .
The New York Times reported that the FAA was investigating Salehpour’s claims. The FAA, without commenting specifically on Salehpour, said it was investigating all safety reports.
Boeing says it is “fully confident” in both planes.
Salehpour is the latest in a series of Boeing whistleblowers to come forward, often alleging retaliation for raising safety concerns. The company said it encourages employees to speak up about issues.
Lisa Fahl, vice president of engineering for Boeing aircraft programs, said employee reports have “exploded” — with as many reports in January and February as were filed in all of 2023 – “what we want”.
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