Second Boeing whistleblower dies suddenly from mysterious infection
A Boeing whistleblower who raised concerns about one of the carrier’s suppliers ignoring production defects died suddenly on Tuesday — just two months after another employee who sounded the alarm about the embattled company died by alleged suicide
Joshua Dean (pictured), 45, a former quality auditor at Spirit AeroSystems, died Tuesday morning from a fast-growing mystery infection, the Seattle Times reported.
Dean, of Wichita, Kansas, had reportedly been in good health until about two weeks ago, when he was admitted to the hospital, the outlet reported.
However, by April 21 he was in “very critical condition,” and had tested positive for influenza B, MRSA, and pneumonia, the outlet said.
He was intubated and put on dialysis before eventually being airlifted to another hospital in Oklahoma City.
A CT scan indicated that he had also suffered a stroke.
Shortly before his death, doctors were considering amputating his hands and feet, which had turned black from infection, baffling his family and doctors.
“He is in the worst condition I have ever known or heard of. Even the hospital agrees,” his sister-in-law, Kristen Dean, wrote on Facebook Saturday, before detailing the life saving procedures doctors were trying in order to save him.
His family announced that he died Tuesday morning.
Dean had raised the alarm about defects while working at Spirit Aerosystems, a Kansas-based company which manufactures aircraft parts for Boeing in 2022. Less than a year later he was fired.
“I think they were sending out a message to anybody else,” Dean later told NPR of his firing. “If you are too loud, we will silence you.”
Dean, who had been at Spirit since 2019 as a quality auditor, raised concerns about improperly drilled bulkhead holes on parts for Boeing 373 Max planes, according to the Seattle Times. He claimed flagging the issue with his management had no effect.
He has said his focus on the improperly drilled parts caused him to miss another issue with fittings between the vertical tail fin to the fuselage of the aircraft, which was later discovered and led to his being fired.
The issues with the improper drilling were later acknowledged by Spirit Aerosystems. Both issues caused delays at Boeing manufacturiung plants.
Dean – who provided testimony he and other workers were told to downplay any problems they identified – filed a complaint with the Federal Aviation Administration which claimed he was scapegoated in Spirit’s effort to keep the Boeing production issues secret.
In November 2023, he also filed a complaint with the Department of Labor on the grounds of wrongful termination.
That case was still pending at the time of his death, the outlet said.
Following a January incident involving a door hatch which flew off a Boeing 737 Max 9 during an Alaska Airlines flight, one of Dean’s former colleagues backed up his claims to the Seattle Times.
“It is known at Spirit that if you make too much noise and cause too much trouble, you will be moved,” Dean told the Wall Street Journal earlier this year.
“It doesn’t mean you completely disregard stuff, but they don’t want you to find everything and write it up.”
Dean’s death comes less than two months after Boeing whistleblower John Barnett (pictured below) died from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound in March.
Image: The Barnett family
His death is still under investigation by the local police after Barnett’s lawyers raised the alarm, saying “we didn’t see any indication he would take his own life … no one can believe it,” and urging a thorough investigation.
The same lawyer, Brian Knowles, was also representing Dean.
“Josh’s passing is a loss to the aviation community and the flying public.
He possessed tremendous courage to stand up for what he felt was true and right and raised quality and safety issues”.
When asked if he agreed with the growing theories linking his clients’ back-to-back deaths, Knowles said he “would like to see the evidence from the investigating authorities.”
“What society does not need is people in fear to speak up,” he noted.
Spirit Aerosystems told multiple outlets that their “thoughts are with Josh Dean’s family.”
“This sudden loss is stunning news here and for his loved ones,” the company said.
See more here nypost.com
Header image: Taylor Rae Roberts
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Jerry Krause
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Hi PSI Editors and Readers,
“The following is a list of accidents and incidents involving the Boeing 737 family of jet airliners, including the Boeing 737 Original (-100/-200), Boeing 737 Classic (-300/-400/-500), Boeing 737 Next Generation (-600/-700/-800/-900) and Boeing 737 MAX (-8/-9) series of aircraft. As of February 2024, there have been a total of 529 aviation accidents and incidents involving all 737 aircraft (not all are notable enough for inclusion on this list),[Note 1] which have resulted in a total of 5,779 fatalities and 234 hull losses.” (wikipedia)
I know these previous article exist because I made several comment about how Boeing engineers had departed from a fundamental design principal established by the Wright Brothers from the beginning of heavier than air powered flight. This principal was keep the CONTROL surfaces as small as possible.
But these engineers did not see to do this because they had AI to control the plane. But one should not totally blame Boeing because the GOVERNMENT’S ENGINEERS approved these MODIFICATIONS.
Hence, from the beginning there were EXPERTS who never make, nor admit to, mistakes!
Have a good day
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Howdy
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Perhaps the high incidence figure is attributed to popularity Jerry:
“A best-selling aircraft The 737 is a familiar sight at airports worldwide and by far the most common. Boeing has delivered 11,550 aircraft up to September 2023, making it one of the most produced aircraft in the world.”
https://simpleflying.com/boeing-737-success/
Though the basic premise is the same, modern jets are somewhat more complicated than the ‘kite’ the wright brothers used. These days there are flaps, leading and trailing edge slats, and spoilers in addition to the control surfaces the wright flyer used. Think of the weight that has to be lifted, and safely set down again.
The 737 Max was a debacle. Lack of redundancy, which in itself is unforgivable, plus and a non-disclosed automated system affected by that lack of redundancy.
This article raises the points I knew about the issues, but if you want more, you can search the tech sites:
https://www.seattletimes.com/business/boeing-aerospace/a-lack-of-redundancies-on-737-max-system-has-baffled-even-those-who-worked-on-the-jet/
Sometimes, planes crash because of user error, as in the case of the plane that crashed because the captain had propped the elevator up with a night vision goggles case between the stick, and instrument panel then forgot about it. During takeoff, the aircraft started to rotate, seemingly of it’s own accord, but was because the control column was fully rearward. Surely the pilot would realize. Anyway that’s what happened.
A plane started take off and immediately started to rotate, rolling over and crashing. The crew never check the control surface functions before the roll, and the elevators were locked. how can that be?
Or the kids on the flight deck that crashed a plane.
When a Flight Crew Trusts a Plane Too Much | Fatal Test
There’s a sizable figure that illustrates Human error is to blame for the results.
It is not AI Jerry, it is computer control responding to inputs from sensors and detectors, radio etc.
Pilots often land aircraft themselves, but if it took a superhuman amount of workload that only ‘AI’ as you keep referring to it could manage, pilots could not do that. A flight crew may need to take command at any time, and that means a stable design that allows them to do so without leaning on the control column to effect a maneuver due to deficiencies in aerodynamic control. This takes us back to the 737 Max.
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Jerry Krause
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Hi PSI Readers,
Need to correct my English mistake. Principal is an adjective and should be principle–a noun.
Reply
Carbon Bigfoot
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https://techxplore.com/news/2024-05-transatlantic-sustainable-aviation-fuel-flight.html?utm_source=theblueprintbyie.beehiiv.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=microsoft-launches-covert-chatbot-for-us-intel-agencies-yearly-expansion-of-a-siberian-sinkhole-google-tests-3-fingered-robot-hand
Are any of you blokes aware of this Virgin Airways experiment??
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Cal Aylmer
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safe to administer
effective at depopping.
Reply