Who was Dean Joshua? Know about Boeing whistleblower who had warned about "catastrophic" safety failings in 2017

Aviation worker Dean Joshua, who had warned authorities in 2017 about what he said were potentially "catastrophic" safety failings with the 787 Dreamliner, died Tuesday in Wichita, Kansas. According to NPR, he was diagnosed with multiple illnesses including flu, pneumonia and MRSA. Attorney Robert Turkewitz said family members of Joshua have sought an autopsy. The Boeing whistleblower was a healthy person with a normal life but had been sick for two weeks and struggling to breathe before he was put on a ventilator.

Second Boeing-related whistleblower

Dean Joshua is the second Boeing-related whistleblower to die in the past three months after John Barnett died in Charleston "from what appears to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound." A former quality auditor at Boeing supplier Spirit AeroSystems, Joshua warned that managers failed to act on manufacturing defects on the 737 MAX planes.

Dean warns of manufacturing defects

His warning came much before the door panel blew off an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 Max 9 in midair in January this year. It is the latest incident in a long and troubled relationship between the two companies. US federal investigating agencies are now probing to know what went wrong at Spirit and Boeing.

Dean gets frustrated

According to NPR, Dean got increasingly frustrated with what he described as a "culture of not counting defects correctly" at Spirit. He earlier said Spirit put pressure on its employees not to report defects so that the planes could be delivered quickly. Boeing sacked Joshua in April. He said it was in retaliation for flagging improperly drilled holes in fuselages.

FAQs:

Who was Dean Joshua and why is he in the news?
Dean Joshua was an aviation worker and a whistleblower, who died Tuesday after a brief illness. He hogged the headlines in 2017 when he warned that the managers failed to act on manufacturing defects in the 737 MAX planes. He said these were potentially "catastrophic" safety failings with the 787 Dreamliner.

How did Dean Joshua die?
Dean Joshua was diagnosed with multiple illnesses including flu, pneumonia and MRSA. Attorney Robert Turkewitz said family members of Joshua have sought an autopsy. The Boeing whistleblower was a healthy person with a normal life but had been sick for two weeks and struggling to breathe before he was put on a ventilator.