The second Boeing whistleblower, an aviation worker who went public with safety concerns and alleged retaliation by his employer has died after a brief illness.
According to his attorney, this was coming after the first whistleblower allegedly died by suicide.
Joshua Dean, 45, of Wichita, Kansas, died Tuesday after he received multiple diagnoses that included the flu, pneumonia, and MRSA, prompting his family to seek an autopsy, attorney Robert Turkewitz said.
“He was a healthy individual who ate well and exercised,” Turkewitz told NBC News. “So it just seems odd that he went so fast.”
Dean had been sick for two weeks and had been struggling to breathe, forcing him to be put on a ventilator.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with Josh and his family,” said a statement from Brian Knowles. another attorney 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.”
Turkewitz and Knowles had also represented John Barnett, a 62-year-old Louisiana man, who died March 9 from a self-inflicted gunshot wound in Charleston, South Carolina, officials said.
Barnett, who spent more than three decades at Boeing, told aviation authorities in 2017 about what he said were potentially “catastrophic” safety failings with the 787 Dreamliner.
Dean was a former quality auditor at Boeing supplier Spirit AeroSystems and he alleged that managers failed to act on manufacturing defects on the 737 MAX planes.
