Bad news for Boeing

[Alefroth]

Latest bad news for Boeing?

Wouldn't that be good news?

[LawBeefaroni]

Absolutely shell of its former self. Great company destroyed chasing short term shareholder value over long term stability and marketing over engineering.

[Victoria Raverna]

Latest bad news for Boeing?

Wouldn't that be good news?

Bad news in that now there'll be people thinking that Boeing killed that whistleblower.

[Unagi]

Absolutely shell of its former self. Great company destroyed chasing short term shareholder value over long term stability and marketing over engineering.

Bingo.

spot on

[Moliere]

Boeing Proudly Announces It Has Fixed Malfunctioning Whistleblower

In response to mounting public criticism of its quality standards, aerospace corporation Boeing proudly announced it has fixed its malfunctioning whistleblower.

The longtime industry leader in commercial aircraft manufacturing had been in hot water following a string of highly publicized malfunctions and accidents involving its planes, leaving the company desperate to find a solution to its problems.

"That should take care of everything," a Boeing spokesman said. "After extensive investigation into the recent engineering and design quality issues, we determined that many of these problems could be traced back to this whistleblower. We are proud to announce that we have, in fact, fixed the whistleblower. Permanently."

[Jaymann]

Is that from the Onion?

[Grifman]

Absolutely shell of its former self. Great company destroyed chasing short term shareholder value over long term stability and marketing over engineering.

Yep, everything I have read is that the company used to be run by engineers, who were replaced by the finance guys, and that's when their problems started.

[Moliere]

Is that from the Onion?

Same idea. Babylon Bee.

[Carpet_pissr]

Boeing Proudly Announces It Has Fixed Malfunctioning Whistleblower

In response to mounting public criticism of its quality standards, aerospace corporation Boeing proudly announced it has fixed its malfunctioning whistleblower.

The longtime industry leader in commercial aircraft manufacturing had been in hot water following a string of highly publicized malfunctions and accidents involving its planes, leaving the company desperate to find a solution to its problems.

"That should take care of everything," a Boeing spokesman said. "After extensive investigation into the recent engineering and design quality issues, we determined that many of these problems could be traced back to this whistleblower. We are proud to announce that we have, in fact, fixed the whistleblower. Permanently."

LOL!

[hitbyambulance]

Is that from the Onion?

actually from the onion:

https://www.theonion.com/boeing-promote ... 1851333169

[Max Peck]

Boeing Whistleblower Warned Family Friend 'It's Not Suicide' Before Death

John Barnett, the 62-year-old Boeing whistleblower discovered dead with a gunshot wound in South Carolina Saturday, had previously told a family friend not to believe what authorities would say if he was found dead, according to local network ABC News 4.

The Context

Police are investigating after Barnett was discovered in a hotel car park in Charleston with a single gunshot wound to the head, along with what officers described as a "silver handgun" and a "white piece of paper that closely resembled a note." A coroner's report said he died from a "self-inflicted" wound, though the Charleston Police Department is still making inquiries.

After retiring in 2019 Barnett accused Boeing, his employee of 32 years, of cutting corners and using sub-standard parts to build planes. He claimed to have reported this to management and been ignored, though Boeing has denied this.

What We Know

Speaking to ABC News 4 Jennifer, who didn't give a surname and was described by the network as a "close family friend" of Barnett, claimed he told her not to believe any reports of his suicide some time before his death.

She claimed he insisted "I ain't scared" before adding "but if anything happens to me it's not suicide."

Jennifer said: "I know he did not commit suicide there's no way. He loved life too much, he loved his family too much, he loved his brothers too much to put them through what they're going through right now...I think somebody didn't like what he had to say and wanted to shut him up and didn't want it to come back on anyone so that's why they made it look like a suicide."

Barnett was in the midst of a legal dispute related to his whistleblowing when he died. In a statement his lawyers, Robert Turkewitz and Brian Knowles, said there was "no indication" he would take his own life.

The statement read: "John was in the midst of a deposition in his whistleblower retaliation case, which finally was nearing the end. He was in very good spirits and really looking forward to putting this phase of his life behind him and moving on. We didn't see any indication he would take his own life. No one can believe it.

"We are all devastated. We need more information about what happened to John. The Charleston police need to investigate this fully and accurately and tell the public what they find out. No detail can be left unturned."

[Unagi]

I thought I read that his brother reported he had PTSD and didn’t think it was foul play.

[Max Peck]

Yeah, I've seen that reporting as well.

Boeing Whistleblower's Family Blames "Hostile Work Environment" For His Death

Former Boeing employee John Barnett, who questioned the aircraft manufacturer's production standards, was found dead in Charleston, South Carolina, US. The 62-year-old died from a "self-inflicted" gunshot wound on March 9. Mr Barnett was in Charleston for legal interviews and was scheduled for additional questioning. He was found dead after failing to appear. He departed from Boeing in 2017 due to health reasons after more than 30 years of career.

Mr Barnett's family has now blamed the company's "hostile work environment" for his death, as per a report in the New York Post. They said, "He was suffering from PTSD and anxiety attacks as a result of being subjected to the hostile work environment at Boeing which we believe led to his death."

[Moliere]

Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun to step down in wake of ongoing safety problems

Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun said Monday he intends to leave the beleaguered company by the end of the year in a major shakeup of the company’s leadership. Boeing’s chairman and the head of the commercial airplane unit are also leaving.

Boeing’s chairman, Larry Kellner, will not stand for re-election as a board director. The board has elected former Qualcomm CEO Steve Mollenkopf to succeed him.

The company also announced that Stan Deal, CEO of Boeing Commercial Airplanes, is retiring. Stephanie Pope, Boeing’s chief operating officer since January, is taking his place effective immediately.

[hitbyambulance]

[url=https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/25/business ... index.html] The board has elected former Qualcomm CEO Steve Mollenkopf to succeed him.

oh good, a Qualcomm CEO, that'll fix everything

[Moliere]

[Alefroth]

Being a Boeing whistleblower can be hazardous to your health-

https://www.npr.org/2024/05/02/12486935 ... -dean-dead

Dean is the second Boeing-related whistleblower to die in the past three months. In March, John Barnett, 62, died in Charleston, S.C., "from what appears to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound," the local coroner said. At the time, Barnett had been testifying in his retaliation lawsuit against Boeing. Police in Charleston say they're still investigating his death.

[Carpet_pissr]

Think of their head PR person finding out about a second whistleblower dying in such a short amount of time. Unless no one is pushing back on this, in which case....carry on.

Shouldn't this raise some fed agency suspicion at this point? Are we Russia, now?

[LawBeefaroni]

Shouldn't this raise some fed agency suspicion at this point?

Boeing is a major player in the military/industrial complex. If these dead whistleblowers were murdered, they were probably killed by ex mil or ex feds. Or current.



The thing here is that the stakes don't seem big enough for Boeing to want to kill this guy. The bad news he had is already out so why kill him now? Revenge? And he died from complications related to a MRSA infection which seems like a poor way to assassinate someone. Also, he wasn't a Boeing employee, he worked for Spirit Aerosystems.

Not saying it's impossible, it just seems highly unlikely.


https://www.seattletimes.com/business/w ... -has-died/

Parsons said Dean became ill and went to the hospital because he was having trouble breathing just over two weeks ago. He was intubated and developed pneumonia and then a serious bacterial infection, MRSA.

His condition deteriorated rapidly, and he was airlifted from Wichita to a hospital in Oklahoma City, Parsons said. There he was put on an ECMO machine, which circulates and oxygenates a patient’s blood outside the body, taking over heart and lung function when a patient’s organs don’t work on their own.

...

Dean, a mechanical engineer, began working at Spirit in 2019. He was laid off the next year following pandemic-related job cuts and returned to Spirit in May 2021 as a quality auditor.

In October 2022, Dean said he found a serious manufacturing defect: mechanics improperly drilling holes in the aft pressure bulkhead of the MAX. When he flagged this issue with management, he said nothing was done.

Focused on those defects, he said he missed during that same audit a separate manufacturing flaw in the fittings that attach the vertical tail fin to the fuselage. When that was discovered in April and caused a delivery pause at Boeing’s Renton plant, Dean was fired.

Then in August, Spirit announced the discovery of improperly drilled holes in the MAX’s aft pressure bulkhead, a flaw that was present in MAXs built as early as 2019. This caused another delivery halt in Renton.

With that discovery, Dean filed a safety complaint with the FAA. He said Spirit had used him as a scapegoat and had lied to the FAA about the aft pressure bulkhead defects.

“After I was fired, Spirit AeroSystems [initially] did nothing to inform the FAA, and the public” about their knowledge of the aft pressure bulkhead defects, he wrote in his complaint.

In November, the FAA sent Dean a letter stating that it had completed an investigation of the safety issues he had flagged. The letter cloaks the outcome though it seems to confirm that his allegations had substance.

[hepcat]

The thing here is that the stakes don't seem big enough for Boeing to want to kill this guy.

Also, it seems like shutting the barn door AFTER the horses have escaped.

[Carpet_pissr]

Ah, ok. Re-reading: "the second Boeing RELATED whistleblower" is important. Had this been another Boeing employee, my other eyebrow would have raised for sure. Carry on!

[The Meal]

No need to silence that guy. It’s the next potential whistle blower you’d want to discourage.

[Blackhawk]

What works for Putin...

I mean, they did try to throw one guy out the window - but he had his seatbelt on.

[Isgrimnur]

Boeing to plead guilty in DOJ case tied to deadly 737 Max crashes

Boeing (BA) will plead guilty to criminal fraud conspiracy in a Justice Department agreement that brands the aviation giant as a corporate felon but could resolve a big legal headache as Boeing tries to convince customers and investors that it has its problems under control.
...
Boeing will have to pay fines of up to $487.2 million, although a judge will rule on the final amount. The Justice Department asked that Boeing be credited for fines already paid, which means the new amount could be $243.6 million.

The company will also have to operate with a corporate monitor for the next three years and spend $455 million to improve its compliance and safety.
...
Criminal convictions can foreclose or suspend a company’s right to contract with the federal government and frustrate its ability to secure loans, according to Eddie Jauregui, a former federal prosecutor and white-collar defense attorney with Holland & Knight.

Those consequences have particular meaning for Boeing, which counts the federal government as its largest customer. It also happens to be the country’s largest exporter.
...
Boeing is in this spot after DOJ officials decided to officially revoke legal protections extended to Boeing in a January 2021 deferred prosecution agreement.
...
Prosecutors agreed to table a charge alleging that Boeing conspired to defraud the federal government so long as Boeing spent three years designing, implementing, and enforcing a compliance and ethics program for safer manufacturing and oversight practices.

Just days before that agreement was set to expire this past January, Boeing found itself at the center of a new safety crisis caused by a door plug blowout aboard an Alaska Airlines (ALK) Boeing 737 Max 9.

Prosecutors told a judge in May that Boeing had violated the 2021 deferred prosecution agreement.

[Isgrimnur]

Boeing raises $21 billion in capital to repair balance sheet

Boeing raised around $21 billion in an expanded share sale, one of the largest ever by a public company, shoring up its balance sheet as it seeks to stave off a potential credit rating downgrade to junk.

The plane maker sold 112.5 million common shares for $143 each, according to a statement. The stock was priced at a discount of about 7.7% to the Friday closing price of $155.01. Boeing also sold $5 billion of depositary shares.
...
The company on Oct. 23 received clearance from the Securities and Exchange Commission to sell as much as $25 billion of equity and debt. Boeing also has a separate new credit agreement in place for $10 billion, giving it “additional short-term access to liquidity as we navigate through a challenging environment.”

[Isgrimnur]

Boeing CEO tells striking workers to approve third contract offer — or else

Boeing (BA) machinists are voting once again on Monday on a contract that could end their nearly two month-long strike. This would be the third agreement to come up for ratification, and union leaders with the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) think workers should agree to it.

“This is truly the time to lock in these gains and work to build more in future negotiations,” the union told workers in an update. “You can confidently declare victory, vote yes for this agreement, and build on this for generations to come.”

The Seattle Times reportsthat Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg told workers that offers from Boeing would get worse if they did not approve this one.

“The next offer will be regressive,” he reportedly said. (At one point during talks, Boeing said an informal 30% raise offer would be its “best and final” proposal, but it has since two offers better than that.)

[Isgrimnur]

Boeing workers end 7-week strike on 38% pay rise deal

Boeing workers in the US have voted to accept the aviation giant's latest pay offer, ending a damaging seven-week-long walkout.

Under the new contract, they will get a 38% pay rise over the next four years.
...
IAM said 59% of striking workers voted in favour of the new deal, which also includes a one-off $12,000 (£9,300) bonus, as well as changes to workers' retirement plans.