Liam Conner
A whistleblower who identified engineering problems at the supplier company Boeing with plane fuselages died on Monday, CBS News has learned, after suffering from a rapidly spreading infection.
Joshua Dean was a quality inspector at Spirit AeroSystems, which builds most of the 737 Max for Boeing. Dean raised concerns in October 2022 about poorly drilled holes in a rear section of the plane that are needed to maintain cabin pressure during flight.
Dean’s lawyers confirmed his death. He was 45 years old.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with Josh and his family,” attorneys Brian Knowles and Rob Turkewitz said in a statement. “Josh’s passing is a loss to the aviation community and the flying public. He possessed tremendous courage to stand up for what he considered true and right and raised issues of quality and safety. Aviation companies must encourage and encourage those who raise these concerns. Otherwise, safety and quality are not truly the top priorities for these companies.”
Ted S. Warren/AP
Boeing acknowledged the poorly drilled holes in August 2023, writing in a statement that while it was “not an immediate safety issue,” the company would need to reinspect and repair the affected planes, delaying deliveries to airlines. The announcement caused Spirit shares to fall more than 10% the following day.
Dean has worked at Spirit since 2019, was temporarily laid off during the pandemic and returned until the company laid him off in April 2023.
Ongoing FAA and NTSB investigations suggest that Spirit — originally spun off from Boeing — oversaw door repairs on the Alaska Airlines jet before the explosion. Quality control problems at Spirit have deteriorated so much that Boeing is currently in talks to reacquire the company so it can improve oversight of the troubled supplier.
Before his death, Dean told CBS News that he had been retaliated against for raising quality concerns.
“The enemy here is Spirit AeroSystems’ quality management culture and Boeing knows it,” said Dean, who also filed a safety complaint with the FAA about the poorly drilled holes and a complaint with the Department of Labor alleging retaliation.
In December, Spirit shareholders filed a lawsuit against the company, alleging that the company failed to disclose “severe and persistent” quality problems to investors. Dean gave evidence in the case, although he was not the plaintiff.
The Seattle Times first reported Dean’s death. Dean’s aunt told the publication that her nephew went to the hospital for respiratory problems a few weeks ago, developed pneumonia and later suffered a serious bacterial infection.
Dean’s death comes weeks after another Boeing whistleblower, John Barnett, the company’s former quality manager, died in what the coroner said was apparent suicide. Barnett was in Charleston, South Carolina, at the time of his death, giving testimony about the factory that builds the 787 Dreamliner. He resigned from the company in 2017, citing work-related stress.
In the 2022 Netflix documentary “Downfall: The Case Against Boeing,” Barnett claimed that his managers retaliated against him for speaking out. Boeing said it addressed the concerns he raised before leaving the company.
In March, John Barnett’s family spoke to CBS News. When asked if they place some of the blame for his death on Boeing, his mother, Vicky Stokes, said, “if this hadn’t gone on for so long, I would still have my son, and my kids would have their brother and we would have.” I won’t be sitting here. So in that respect, I am.
