AGENCIES: A Boeing whistleblower has claimed that passengers flying on board the company’s 787 Dreamliner could be left without life-saving oxygen if the cabin were to suffer a sudden decompression.
John Barnett, a former quality control engineer at the company, says he organised tests which suggested that up to a quarter of the oxygen systems used on the aircraft could be faulty and might not operate when needed.
He also claims that employees at one of Boeing’s factories frequently failed to abide by the company’s own quality control procedures, and that faulty parts were deliberately fitted to aeroplanes on the production line.
Boeing denies his accusations and insists that all its aircraft are built with the highest levels of safety and quality. Nevertheless its corporate culture has come under intense scrutiny in the wake of two catastrophic accidents involving another one of its planes, the 737 Max.
Mr Barnett worked for Boeing for 32 years, until his retirement on health grounds in March 2017. From 2010 he was employed as a quality manager at Boeing’s factory in North Charleston, South Carolina.
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