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Boeing whistleblower Joshua Dean, who revealed major flaws in 737 MAX planes, dies
KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)
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Summary
Dean’s aunt Carol Parsons said he died after two weeks in critical condition. She said that after falling ill, Dean went to a hospital as he was having trouble breathing more than two weeks ago.
A former quality auditor at Boeing supplier Spirit AeroSystems, Joshua Dean, who was one of the first whistleblowers to raise concerns over the flaws in the manufacturing of the 737 MAX planes, has passed away, his family members have said.
Popularly known as Josh, Dean used to live in Wichita, Kansas, where Spirit AeroSystems is based. He died on Tuesday morning after a struggle with a sudden, fast-spreading infection, The Seattle Times reported.
As per the news portal, Dean had been in good health and was noted as having a healthy lifestyle.
Dean’s aunt Carol Parsons said he died after two weeks in critical condition. She said that after falling ill, Dean went to a hospital as he was having trouble breathing more than two weeks ago.
Parsons said Dean went to the hospital because he was having trouble breathing just over two weeks ago. Soon after, he was intubated and developed pneumonia. Later, he suffered a serious bacterial infection, MRSA.
As his condition continued to deteriorate, Dean was airlifted from Wichita to a hospital based in Oklahoma City where he was put on an ECMO machine.
Last week, Dean’s mother posted a message on the social media site Facebook and said her son was “fighting for his life.”
During the treatment, Dean was heavily sedated and put on dialysis, while a CT scan indicated that he suffered a stroke, his mother’s Facebook post stated.
However, doctors later considered amputating both his hands and feet. “It was brutal what he went through. Heartbreaking,” Parsons said.
“Our thoughts are with Josh Dean’s family,” Spirit spokesperson Joe Buccino said, adding that his sudden loss is “stunning news here and for his loved ones.”
Dean had earlier given a deposition in a Spirit shareholder lawsuit. Also, he filed a complaint with the Federal Aviation Administration alleging “serious and gross misconduct by the senior quality management at the 737 production line” in the company.
Dean was fired from Spirit AeroSystems in April last year. Later, he filed a complaint with the Department of Labor and alleged that his termination was in retaliation for raising concerns related to aviation safety.
A mechanical engineer by profession, Dean started working for the company in 2019 but was laid off the next year after COVID-19 pandemic-related layoffs. Later in May 2021, he joined back the company — this time as a quality auditor.
After working there for more than a year, Dean in October 2022 claimed that he had found a serious manufacturing defect: “mechanics improperly drilling holes in the aft pressure bulkhead of the MAX,” The Seattle Times report said.
However, nothing was done after he flagged this issue with the management.
While Dean was focused on those defects, he claimed to have missed during that same audit a separate manufacturing flaw related to the fittings that attach the vertical tail fin to the fuselage, the report added.
After that issue was discovered, causing a pause in delivery at Boeing’s Renton plant, Dean got fired. Later, the company further announced the discovery of improperly drilled holes in the MAX aircraft’s aft pressure bulkhead.
While filing a safety complaint with the FAA, Dean alleged that he was used as a scapegoat by the company, which he claimed had lied to the FAA about the aft pressure bulkhead defects.
In his case, Dean was being represented by a law firm in South Carolina. The same firm also represented another Boeing whistleblower — John ‘Mitch’ Barnett.
Dean’s demise comes less than two months after Barnett was found dead from what authorities said appeared to be “a self-inflicted gunshot wound”.
The police investigation in that case is still going on nearly two months after his death.
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