Latest / Beyond The Horizon / The Death Of Boeing Whistleblower John Barnett

Transcript

The Death Of Boeing Whistleblower John Barnett · Beyond The Horizon

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: What's up everyone and welcome back to the program. We
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: got a wild story to talk about in this one
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: and it has to do with a whistleblower from the
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: company Boeing, the aeronautics company, who ended up testifying at
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: a court hearing about the company and what's going on
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: with all of their issues. And then a couple of
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: days later, he's found dead from a self-inflicted quote-unquote gunshot wound. Now,
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: I'm not somebody that dives into every single one of
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: these types of conspiracies and gives it credence or merit.
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: But this right here, boy, this has all the hallmarks
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: of being something a lot more than a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: So let's just dive right into the story from the
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: Daily Mail and let's see what they have for us. Headline,
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: Boeing whistleblower John Barnett is found dead in his truck
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: outside a South Carolina hotel just days after testifying in
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: a lawsuit against the aviation giant. And we all know
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: that Boeing is up against it right now. They've had
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: a lot of issues with their jets lately. And there
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: have been a lot of lawsuits, a lot of blowback.
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: And we're talking about a giant in the industry, right?
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: So the implications are wide ranging. And we're talking about
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: financial implications. Those implications bleed over to people who are
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: invested into the company, and we know that a lot
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: of people with a lot of money and a lot
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: at stake are invested in Boeing. So is it really
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: that far out of the realm of possibility that somebody
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: could have killed this man? And it's really starting to
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: smell like a Gary Webb type deal. This article was
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: authored by Alex Hammer. A former Boeing staffer who once
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: raised concerns about the company's production standards has been found
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: dead in the U.S. John Barnett, 62, was found dead
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: in his truck in a hotel parking lot in South Carolina,
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: his lawyer said Monday, seven years after he retired following
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: a 32-year career. So this man put in all of
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: his time, spent his whole life working, retires, then becomes
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: a whistleblower to try and do good, and ends up dead.
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: Who's buying this? Is anybody buying the story that he
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: killed himself? Because what I've seen from the official narrative,
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: this all looks like a bunch of BS to me.
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: The ex-quality manager at Boeing's North Charleston plant died from
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: a self-inflicted gunshot wound, cops in Charleston said, adding that
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: they were still investigating. Look, when you have situations like this,
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: where you have somebody who, quote-unquote, dies from a self-inflicted
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: gunshot wound, the investigation... is not going to be robust.
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: They're not going to dive deep into this because they're
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: already going off of the premise that it was a suicide.
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: So my prediction is this whole thing is going to
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: get swept under the rug and the official narrative and
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: the official story will end up being, oh, this man
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: killed himself, even though there's no evidence of that. There
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: has been nothing as far as people coming forward saying
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: that this man was suicidal, no note left, nothing like that.
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: Barnett's death came during a break in depositions in a
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: whistleblower retaliation suit where he alleged under pressure, workers were
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: deliberately fitting substandard parts to aircraft on the assembly line.
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: And look, I'm terrified to fly in the first place.
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: You start hearing all this stuff about Boeing using substandard parts,
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: all this other garbage, and I gotta tell you, not
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: very confidence-inducing. Like, if you want to get the knockoff
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: brand soda, alright, fine, I'll deal with it. But we're
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: talking about a jetliner here. You better make sure you're
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: using the right damn pieces and the right damn parts.
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: And don't think for a minute that when all this
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: money's on the line that people won't be pushed into
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: doing crazy shit. Because they will be. He said that
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: in some cases, second-rate parts were literally removed from scrap
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: bins before being fitted to planes that were being built
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: to prevent delays. a 2017 review by the FAA upheld
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: some of his concerns requiring Boeing to take action. So
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: these dirtbags in Boeing, who are making money hand over fist,
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: by the way, they decided that it's a good idea
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: to use secondhand parts, parts from junkyards and shit. Whoever's
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: responsible for that decision making, they should be fired and
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: they should be charged criminally. He had just given a
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: deposition to Boeing's lawyers, For the case this past week,
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: his attorney Brian Knowles said. In an email, he called
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: his client's death tragic. Today is a tragic day, Knowles wrote,
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: revealing that Barnett was supposed to do day three of
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: his deposition here in Charleston on his Air 21 case
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: on Saturday, referring to a federal law that provides whistleblowers
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: protection in the aviation industry. Here's a question for you.
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: How many of our lawmakers have stock in Boeing? My
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: guess is a whole lot of them. John had been
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: back and forth for quite some time getting prepared, he continued,
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: providing a timeline of what transpired in the days before
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: Barnett's death. The defense examined him for their allowed seven
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: hours under the rules on Thursday. I cross-examined him all
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: day yesterday, Friday, and did not finish. We agreed to
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: continue this morning at 10 a.m. Co-counsel Rob Turkowitz kept
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: calling this morning, and his phone would just go to voicemail.
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: We then asked the hotel to check on him. The
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: South Carolina jurist went on. They found him in his
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: truck dead from an alleged self-inflicted gunshot wound. We drove
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: to the hotel and spoke with the police and the coroner. Yeah,
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: I have a lot of questions here. Look, I'm not
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: saying that it wasn't suicide, right? It could have been.
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: I don't know this man. I don't know what kind
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: of state of mind he was in, but I certainly
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: have questions, especially when we're talking about a company like
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: Boeing with the kind of reach that they have, the
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: kind of power that they have. And when people are
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: up against it, you know that people will do crazy shit.
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: So was there somebody that decided to take matters into
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: their own hands here? Obviously, the police aren't saying that,
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: but I think it has to be investigated. The Charleston
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: County coroner, meanwhile, confirmed Monday the longtime Boeing staffer died
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: Friday while in town for interviews linked to the case.
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: Boeing also responded to the former worker's death in their
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: own statement as news spread on Monday. saying it was
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: saddened by Mr. Barnett's passing. Yeah, I don't know how
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: that's going to hit with his family, considering it's this
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: whole entire ordeal that led to his death one way
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: or the other, either by his own hand or by
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: some scumbag who decided to kill him. The fact remains
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: that this situation itself led to Mr. Barnett's death. The
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: statement did not address any aspects of the case, but
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: Brass ultimately added, our thoughts are with his family and
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: his friends. Oh, I'm sure that's comforting. I'm sure that's
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: comforting to everybody out there. Meanwhile, the rest of us
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: are sitting around here saying ourselves, do these clowns really
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: use aftermarket parts? Are they out here getting shit from
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: junkyards and putting it on the planes? I mean, would
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: it shock you? We all know about these corporations and
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: how it's all about profits over people. The plant where
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: Barnett worked for decades is where Boeing builds the 787 Dreamliner,
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: one of several crafts from the airliner that's made headlines
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: as of late. On Monday, roughly 50 people were treated
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: by first responders after a Boeing 787 Dreamliner flying from
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: Australia to New Zealand experienced a technical event that caused
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: a strong movement, jolting passengers in their seats. It's like
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: my worst fear. Being on a plane and all this
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: technical crap starts happening and you have no idea if
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: that bad boy is going to land or if it's
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: going to crash and you want to really add a
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: little bit of spice to it for me. Have that
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: shit happen over an ocean, because I am deathly afraid
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: of the open ocean as it is, never mind crashing
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: in a plane and my ass ends up surviving floating
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: around in the ocean to be eaten by sharks, because
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: that's definitely my fate. So, you can miss me with
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: all of your aftermarket parts and all your bullshit around.
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: As of writing, Five remained hospitalized after the plane dipped
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: violently due to the unspecified issue. LATAM Airline and first
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: responders both told AFP, Meanwhile, in a separate incident in
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: early January, an unused emergency exit door blew off a
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: brand new Boeing 737 MAX shortly after takeoff from Portland International,
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: sparking a still ongoing DOJ investigation. Now, how in the
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: fuck does that happen? You mean to tell me that
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: a door is going to blow off midair? Sure, let
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: me go and book another flight. I mean, I recently
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: flew up to Montana and it was a shit show.
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: My flight ended up getting delayed. I was in the
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: airport in Kalispell for like 14 hours. Then I went
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: to Denver. There was another delay. All I'm trying to
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: do is get back home. A measly hour and 55
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: minute flight. But shit is so screwed up when it
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: comes to the airliners these days that even that's a
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: pain in the balls. And then you want to add
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: to that misery and say that a door might blow
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: off mid-flight? On Friday, shortly before the incident, over the
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: Indian Ocean. Oh, of course, over the ocean, right? Boeing
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: said it believed the technical failure. involving the door stem
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: from something that occurred during production where required documents detail
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: the removal of a key part that failed or never created. Well,
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: isn't that nice? And what kind of people are they
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: hiring over at Boeing? And to digress a little bit,
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: this is the same reason I don't go on carnival rides. Yeah,
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: that's right. I don't know who built those carnival rides,
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: who's maintaining them. Old Ted with meth mouth over here,
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: you know, fixing the carnival ride. you can miss me
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: with that shit too. I'm not going on any carnival rides.
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: I guess we have the same sort of people over
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: here working for Boeing. Also on Friday, the company said
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: it's committed to continuing to cooperate fully and transparently with
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: the National Transportation Safety Board's investigation, which more than three
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: months later, were ongoing. Barnett's job for 32 years was
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: overseeing production standards for the firm's planes. Standards, he said,
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: were not met during his four years at the then-new
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: plant in Charleston from 2010 to 2004. The new leadership
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: didn't understand processes. Barnett told Corporate Crime Reporter in an
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: interview in 2019 of how Brass allegedly cut corners to
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: get their then state-of-the-art 787s out on time. They brought
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: them in from other areas of the company, he continues,
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: two years after retiring in 2017. The new leadership team,
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: from my director down, they all came from St. Louis, Missouri.
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: They said they were all buddies there. That entire team
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: came down, he went on. They were from... the military side.
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: My impression was their mindset was, we are going to
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: do it the way we want to do it. Their
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: motto at the time was, we are in Charleston and
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: we can do anything we want. Well, it's always great
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: hubris before the fall, right? He also said that he
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: uncovered serious problems with the plane's oxygen systems, alleging that
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: one in four breathing masks would not work in the
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: event of an emergency. Barnett claimed he alerted superiors at
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: the plant about his misgivings, but no action was ever taken.
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: Boeing denied this, as well as his claims. Oh, I'm
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: sure they did. What, are they going to run up
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: and say, oh, you know what, he told us all
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: about this, and we didn't do anything, we just let
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: people die? Yeah, not going to do that. However, a
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: 2017 review by the Federal Aviation Administration went on to
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: stand up some of Barnett's qualms, including finding that at
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: least 53 non-conforming parts, as they put it, were misplaced
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: and considered lost. Boeing was ordered to take immediate remedial
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: action by locating and detailing the lost parts. After the review,
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: the company went on to also concede that it had
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: identified some oxygen bottles received from the supplier that were
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: not deploying properly, but denied Barnett's claims that they were
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: actually fitted on the aircraft. Meanwhile, last week, the FAA
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: said a six-week audit found multiple instances where Boeing allegedly
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: failed to comply with manufacturing quality control requirements. Again, we're
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: talking about a jetliner, folks. We're not talking about, you know,
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: a sled. We're not talking about a hot wheel truck.
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: We're talking about a fucking airliner. Here's an idea. Do
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: your job correctly and do it with precision. FAA Administrator
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: Mike Whitaker said Boeing must develop a comprehensive plan to
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: address systemic quality control issues within 90 days after an
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: all-day February 27th meeting with CEO Dave Calhoun, but did
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: not say the specific corrective actions Boeing and Spirit must take.
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: He sent summary of its findings to the companies in
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: its completed audit. Boeing must commit to real and profound improvements,
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: Whitaker explained at the time. We are going to hold
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: them accountable every step of the way with mutually understood
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: milestones and expectations. Sounds like just a bunch of BS
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: to me. When's the last time a company like Boeing
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: was really held responsible for anything? Calhoun responded in a
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: statement that Boeing's leadership team was totally committed to addressing
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: FAA concerns. and developing the plan after Whitaker previously said
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: in January the goal of the audit was to look
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: at the system, look at how the inspections are done,
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: where they're done, how the interaction is with the suppliers,
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: how the handoff happens, just the whole process to really
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: understand how it works and where the faults might be.
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: Spirit Aerosystems, which makes a fuselage for the now-scrutinized MAX,
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: said it is in communication with Boeing and the FAA
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: on appropriate corrective actions. Well, that's nice to know, huh?
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: Here's an idea. Quit talking and just do it. Boeing
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: said in a response that by virtue of our quality
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: stand downs, the FAA audit findings and the recent expert
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: review panel report, we have a clear picture of what
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: needs to be done. Well, OK, so they better do it, right?
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: And if they don't, well, there's going to be hell
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: to pay because what happens next time they're flying over
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: the Indian Ocean and the door blows out and it
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: ends in tragedy? Meanwhile, the firm is now under criminal
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: investigation for the door incident on the Max plane this
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: past January, during which feds will examine whether Boeing has
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: met the conditions of the 2021 settlement reached after the
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: fatal 2018 and 2019 crashes that killed 346 people. The
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: first occurred when a MAX 8 operated by Indonesia's Lion
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: Air plunged into the Java Sea in October 2018. Nope,
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: no thank you. The whole thought of crashing into the
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: ocean is terrifying to me. And I know it probably
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: doesn't matter. You'll probably die, you know, long before you
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: get to the ocean. But the thought in my brain
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: is terrifying. And to think that these idiots are out
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: here dicking around when they should be making sure that
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: the plane is flight ready is just absolutely bananas. The
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: second was when Ethiopian Airlines 737 MAX 8 crashed nearly
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: straight down into a field six minutes after takeoff from
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: Addis Ababa in March 2019. Boeing reached a $ 2. 5 billion
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: settlement with the FBI and the Transportation Department in the
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: wake of the crashes, admitting that two former employees had
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: misled the FAA over how much training a new flight
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: control system would require. Yo, it's one thing to lie
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: to your boss about sending an email or something. It's
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: a whole different story to say, oh, you know what?
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: Everything's flight worthy and you don't need that much training. Well,
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: breaking news. Yeah, you do. If the Justice Department finds
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: that Boeing has violated the terms of that settlement, they
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: could face prosecution on the original count of defrauding the U.S.
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: I hope they do. Boeing declined to comment on the
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: criminal investigation. Dailymail.com contacted Alaska Airlines for comment. Boeing is
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: also facing a civil lawsuit from a group of passengers
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: on board the flight. I don't blame them. If I
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: was on board some shitty flight and, you know, there
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: was some sort of issue that wasn't an accident and
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: it was something that could have been prevented and it
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: was negligence, yep, I want a bag too. I'm trying
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: to get some money out of that. You put me
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: through all kinds of pain and misery, so you better
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: damn well have that checkbook ready. Earlier this week, the
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: head of the National Transportation Safety Board accused Boeing of
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: failing to provide some key records sought in its ongoing
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: investigation into the midair cabin door emergency. NTSB Chair Jennifer
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: Homendy said investigators have sought the names of the 25
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: people who work on door plugs at Boeing's facility and
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: rent in Washington but have not received them from Boeing.
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: It's absurd that two months later we don't have it,
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: Homendy said at a Senate Commerce Committee hearing on Wednesday.
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: Boeing insisted that it had initially provided the NTSB with
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: some of the names of Boeing employees, including door specialists
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: it believed would have relevant information. Senator Ted Cruz, the
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: top Republican on the Commerce Committee, called it utterly unacceptable
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: that the NTSB was not receiving full cooperation from Boeing.
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: Homendy also confirmed that the MAX 9 door plug had
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: moved during prior flights, citing markings on the door. The
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: door plug incident has been followed by a string of
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: bad press for Boeing, which has made headlines in recent
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: weeks for issues with planes, including an engine exploding on
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: a flight out of Texas and a wheel falling off
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: on takeoff at San Francisco. Last month, another Alaska Airlines
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: plane landed safely in Portland with its cargo door open.
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: I mean, how is this even real life? We're in
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: the year 2024 and you guys can't figure this shit
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: out yet? Alaska Airlines Flight 1437 from Las Cabos, Mexico
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: arrived in Portland International Airport and photo showed the open door.
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: It's unclear how long the door was open for, but
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: the flight did not require an emergency landing. There was
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: no indication that the door was open during the flight,
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: according to crew members, which points to the door opening
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: after landing. Either way, if it opened after landing, what's
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: to say it's not going to open mid-flight? There was
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: no indication to the crew that the door was unsealed
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: during flight, and all indications point to the door partially
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: opening after landing. Our maintenance teams inspected the aircraft, replaced
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: a spring in the door, tested the door, and re-entered
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: it into service. After relocating in May, Boeing has sought
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: to move past the fallout from the two crashes, with
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: the wrongful death inconsistencies now serving as its last obstacles.
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: Such disputes over damages and the deceased's final moments are
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: not unusual, legal experts told the Journal, namely in states
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: like Illinois, where laws exist only allowing damages dished out
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: for a plaintiff's grief and loss, not for suffering. Pointing
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: to a lack of sufficient evidence, the victims experience pain
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: and suffering between their injuries and deaths, Boeing attorneys say
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: the company should not be liable for those proposed payments.
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: Oh yeah, there was no grief and suffering on those planes.
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: Everybody was just in a nice, you know, pacified state
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: as the plane was blowing up and crashing. These corporations
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: like Boeing need to get chin-checked. The battle over whether
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: the planemakers should have to pay for the victim's suffering
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: comes more than two years after Boeing admitted responsibility for
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: the second crash as part of a deal to obtain
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: legal immunity from the federal government. Imagine the government giving
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: them immunity. So gross. Just like the banking system, right?
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: I guess it's too big to fail. The company at
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: the time conceded to the U.S. District Judge Reed O'Connor
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: that the company had conspired to defraud the United States
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: when it lied about the plantings. safety features in hearings
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: and documents after the crashes, which left all MAX jets
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: grounded worldwide for nearly two years. That cost Boeing more
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: than $ 20 billion. The deal saw attorneys for plaintiffs agree
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: to take potential punitive damages off the table in the suits,
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: of which there were roughly 80. Punitive damages refer to
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: the amount of money defendants are ruled to pay as
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: part of their punishment. And remember, we're talking about Mr.
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: Barnett's alleged suicide, and this is all the background. So
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: there's certainly some merit here when you're talking about the
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: possibility that Mr. Barnett didn't take his own life. One
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: of the biggest motivators for people when they're committing murder
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: is money. And there sure is a lot of people
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: here that are on the hook to lose a lot
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: of it. Under the controversial deal, the Justice Department agreed
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: not to prosecute the company for conspiracy to defraud the government,
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: effectively granting it legal immunity. Families of the victims quickly
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: spoke out against the decision, however, demanding justice for the victims.
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: Both Boeing and the DOJ opposed reopening the agreement, of course.
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: The DOJ loves to give out shit deals. Just look
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: at Epstein. In a court filing in November, the Justice
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: Department said it did not oppose undoing the agreement and
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: properly arraigning Boeing, but said undoing the agreement would impose
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: serious hardships on the parties and the many victims who
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: have received compensation. As backlash from families persisted, the Justice
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: Department in January announced that it would do away with
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: the 2021 deal, which saw the company pay $ 2. 5 billion
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: to the Justice Department as part of the settlement and
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: move forward with the manufacturer's arraignment. Again, how come they
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: can't do that with Epstein's deal? You already know. The
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: reason they won't do that with Epstein's deal is because
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: they don't want to screw any of their faves. They
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: don't want their faves to be caught up, so they
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: can't do that with Epstein. But don't let anybody tell
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: you they can't get rid of a deal. They most
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: certainly can. the government has and will continue to rip
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: up proffers and 302s whenever they damn well see fit.
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: And that's why I go so hard on that NPA
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: when it comes to Epstein. Same deal here. If you
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: got an NPA, a non-prosecution agreement, and you weren't completely
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: honest with the government, they can rip that proffer up
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: right away. At the time, Boeing's chief of safety, Mike Delaney,
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: entered a not guilty plea on behalf of the planemaker,
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: During arraignment, relatives of those killed decried the company, saying
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: it committed the deadliest corporate crime in U.S. history. Well,
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: let's not go that far, but certainly up there. The planes, however,
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: were cleared to fly again in 2021 after Boeing overhauled
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: an automated flight control system that activated erroneously in both crashes,
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: after promising to look into the plane's safety issues. Officials, however,
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: would only choose to ground 737s after a second crash,
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: this time in Ethiopia, just five months later. Following an
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: investigation in 2020, Boeing blamed both crashes on a failure
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: in the plane's flight control system, which caused the plane
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: to turn sharply downward while in the air. Can you imagine?
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: Sitting there on this plane, reading a book, whatever the
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: fuck it is you're doing, all of a sudden this
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: takes place? 737 MAX jets were once again cleared to
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: fly in November after two years after being grounded, with
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: Boeing at the time branding the plane safe for passengers.
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: Boeing had previously agreed to a $ 200 million penalty from
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: the SEC to settle charges that it negligently violated the
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: anti-fraud provisions of U.S. securities law. So in other words,
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: they can just break whatever law they want. They can
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: just do whatever they want, and they're never going to
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: be prosecuted. Must be nice. The agency argued that just
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: one month after the first crash, the company selectively highlighted
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: certain facts implying pilot error and poor aircraft maintenance was
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: what led to the crashes instead of a technical issue. Well,
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: of course, they got to blame somebody, right? Never can
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: be them. Got to be somebody else. Let's blame the pilot.
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: That release failed to disclose that the company knew a
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: key flight handling system, the maneuvering characteristics augmentation system, post-safety issues,
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: and was never redesigned, the SEC argued. Then, after the
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: second crash, the agency said Boeing and Mullenberg assured the
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: public that there was no surprise or gap in the
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: federal certification of the MAX despite being aware of contrary information.
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: In times of crisis and tragedy, it is especially important
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: that public companies and executives provide full, fair, and truthful
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: disclosures to the markets, said SEC Chair Gary Gensler in
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: his press release. The Boeing company and its former CEO,
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: Dennis Mullenberg, failed in this most basic obligation. They misled
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: investors by providing assurances about the safety of the 737
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: MAX despite knowing about serious safety concerns. The SEC said
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: both Boeing and Mullenberg, in agreeing to pay, the penalties
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: did not admit or deny the agency's findings. Oh, of
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: course not. No denial here. We're not admitting nothing either, though.
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: Let's just pay this bill and keep it moving. And
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: if you have the right amount of money, folks, as
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: we have seen time and time again, you can pay
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: your way out of anything. Boeing said the agreement fully
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: resolves the SEC's inquiry and is part of the company's
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: broader effort to responsibly resolve outstanding legal matters related to
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: the 737 MAX accidents in a manner that serves the
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: best interests of our shareholders, employees, and other stakeholders, a
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: company spokesman said. We will never forget those lost on
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: Lion Air Flight 610 and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302, and
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: we have made broad and deep changes across our company
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: in response to those incidents. Yeah, as the doors blowing
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: open here in America, as we have, you know, incidents
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: over the Indian Ocean, sure, you guys are doing a
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: great job. Meanwhile, relatives in the remaining civil lawsuits have
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: enlisted their own expert witnesses to help their case and
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: address questions regarding their family members' final moments. Terrifying. absolutely,
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: positively terrifying to think about what it must have been
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: like to be on one of those planes. One of
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: those experts, aerospace physiologist Troy Faborg, wrote in a court
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: filing the victims very likely experienced issues such as panic,
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: nausea and vomiting, heart problems during the six-minute nosedive, giving
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: credence to their relative's argument. How can you say they didn't?
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: How can anyone sit here and say that people weren't
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: having heart attacks and all the rest of it? Because
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: I know damn well that's what was happening. You know
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: that you're plunging into the ocean or plunging to the
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: ground from 30,000 feet up and you're alive and well
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: while it's happening? Yeah, there's going to be some emotions.
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: Vicki Norton, a commercial airline pilot hired as a witness
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: by the plaintiffs, also wrote, It wasn't long before the
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: progressive loss of control and ultimate dive to the ground
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: would have not only been distressing but terror-inducing to all
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: passengers on board. Feds will now decide whether Boeing defied
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: the terms of the deal reached this past October. Just
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: think about being on a roller coaster and what that's like.
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: And then times that by about 500 million. And as
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: far as Mr. Barnett, you better believe I have some questions. Now,
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: does that mean that I'm going to sit here and
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: tell you that it wasn't a suicide? I can't tell
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: you that. I don't know. Same way I can't tell
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: you that it was. We need to find out more
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: details here, and we need to hear from the authorities
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: a little more about what went down. But even then,
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: in situations like this, I remain skeptical. Because when there's
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: so much on the line here, for a company like Boeing,
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: and then a gigantic coincidence like this happens, yeah, I
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: have questions. And so far, no answers to any of
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: those questions have been provided. So we're going to keep
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: on top of this one, like the other stories, and
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: see where it all ends up. All of the information
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: that goes with this episode can be found in the
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: description box.