A Boeing whistleblower who had expressed concerns about one of the aircraft manufacturer’s suppliers ignoring production defects suddenly died on Tuesday.
This death comes just two months after the “suicide” of another former employee who had expressed concerns about the company’s production and safety standards.
45-year-old Joshua Dean, a former quality inspector at Spirit AeroSystems, died Tuesday morning from a rapidly developing mysterious infection, as reported by the Seattle Times.
According to the report, Dean, from Wichita, Kansas, USA, was reportedly in good health until about two weeks ago when he was admitted to the hospital.
However, on April 21, he was in “very critical condition” and tested positive for influenza B, MRSA, and pneumonia.
JUST IN: A second Boeing whistleblower dies suddenly from mysterious severe infection.
How many more whistleblowers are they going to kill for telling the truth.
Joshua Dean, 45, a former quality auditor at Spirit AeroSystems, raised the alarm about defects while working at… pic.twitter.com/A7KigCcQrN
— Zaki Solja (@zakisolja) May 3, 2024
The unfortunate man was intubated and underwent dialysis before being airlifted to another hospital in Oklahoma City.
The CT scan also showed that he had suffered a stroke.
Shortly before his death, doctors were considering amputating his infected hands and feet.
“He’s in the worst condition I’ve ever known or heard of. Even the hospital agrees,” his cousin, Kristen Dean, wrote on Facebook on Saturday before describing in detail the efforts made by doctors to save him. His family announced that he passed away Tuesday morning.
“Dean had sounded the alarm about manufacturing defects while working at Spirit AeroSystems, a Kansas-based company that manufactures aircraft components for Boeing in 2022. Less than a year later, he was fired.
“I think they sent a message to someone else,” Dean had told NPR about his dismissal. Dean, who had worked at Spirit as a quality inspector since 2019, expressed concerns about improperly drilled holes in components for Boeing 737 Max airplanes, according to the Seattle Times. He claimed that bringing the issue to management had no effect.
Dean – who testified that he and other employees were asked to downgrade the issues they found – filed a complaint with the Federal Aviation Administration, which supported his claim that Spirit was making him a scapegoat in its attempt to keep Boeing’s production problems secret.
In November 2023, he filed a complaint with the Labor Department for wrongful contract termination. The case was still pending at the time of his death.
Following an incident last January involving a trap door that opened on a Boeing 737 Max 9 during an Alaska Airlines flight, a former colleague of Dean’s supported his claims.
“It’s known at Spirit that if you make too much noise and cause too many problems, you’ll leave. That doesn’t mean you completely ignore things, but they don’t want you finding everything and writing it down.”
Dean’s death comes two months after the death of Boeing whistleblower John Barnett, who died from an, allegedly, gunshot wound in March.
His death is still being investigated by the police, as Barnett’s lawyers claim, “we had no indication he would commit suicide… no one can believe it.”
The same lawyer, Brian Knowles, also represented Dean. “Josh’s death is a loss to the aviation community and the flying public. He had immense courage to defend what he believed to be true and right and raised issues of quality and safety,” Knowles added.”
