Joshua Dean, one of the first whistleblowers to allege Spirit AeroSystems execs had ignored manufacturing defects on the 737 MAX, died after a sudden illness.

Joshua Dean, a former quality auditor at Boeing supplier Spirit AeroSystems and one of the first whistleblowers to allege Spirit leadership had ignored manufacturing defects on the 737 MAX, died Tuesday morning after a struggle with a sudden, fast-spreading infection.

Known as Josh, Dean lived in Wichita, Kan., where Spirit is based. He was 45, had been in good health and was noted for having a healthy lifestyle.

He died after two weeks in critical condition, his aunt Carol Parsons said.

  • @[email protected]
    16•1 month ago

    Hmm, there’s nothing more specific on the “having trouble breathing”

    Because it was almost certainly COVID but they didn’t test for it, or didn’t release it as a cause of death.

    • NaibofTabrEnglish
      3•1 month ago

      Yeah, I wasn’t going to bring up COVID because I can only handle so many conspiracy nuts at a time, but this does seem like a possibility. There doesn’t seem to be recent data.

      The pneumonia and infection could have made COVID testing impossible or just low priority compared to the life-threatening issues, so we probably won’t get a definite answer on that.