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The sky is falling at least on Boeing.

A second whistleblower has died under mysterious circumstances, just two months after another one allegedly shot himself in the head and the attorneys for both men hope their deaths don’t scare away the at least 10 other whistleblowers who want the company to clean up its act.

Joshua Dean, 45, a former quality auditor at Spirit AeroSystems which assembles fuselage sections for Boeing, died Tuesday morning from a fast-growing mystery infection.

Deans death comes less than two months after Boeing whistleblower John Barnett, 62, died from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound on March 9.

Barnett, who had worked for Boeing for 32 years, was found dead in his Dodge Ram truck holding a silver pistol in his hand in the parking lot of his South Carolina hotel after he failed to show up for the second part of his testimony for a bombshell lawsuit against the company.

At the same time, Boeing said last month that it lost $355 million on falling revenue in the first quarter, another sign of the crisis gripping the aircraft manufacturer as it faces increasing scrutiny over the safety of its planes and accusations of shoddy work from a growing number of surviving whistleblowers.

It was announced abruptly in March that Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun would step down by the end of the year in a move widely seen as a reaction to the ongoing safety crises.

Brian Knowles, a Charleston, South Carolina, attorney who represented both Barnett and Dean hope their deaths were not in vain.

“These men were heroes. So are all the whistleblowers. They loved the company and wanted to help the company do better,” Knowles told The Post.

“They didn’t speak out to be aggravating or for fame. They’re raising concerns because people’s lives are at stake.”

Knowles and others inside the Boeing scandals are hesitant to speculate about conspiracy theories swirling around the two whistleblower deaths.

“I knew John Barnett for seven years and never saw anything that would indicate he would take his own life,” Knowles told The Post.

“Then again, I’ve never dealt with someone who did (commit suicide.) So maybe you don’t see the signs. I don’t know.”

Knowles pointed out that the Charleston, SC police are still wrapping up their investigation of Barnett’s death and that it may take some weeks for tests to reveal more about Dean’s passing.

“It’s a stunning loss,” Spirit AeroSystems spokesman Joe Buccino said of Dean. (The company is not to be confused with Spirit Airlines.) “Our focus here has been on his loved ones.”

Buccino insisted that Spirit “encourages” employees to come forth with their concerns and that they are then “cloaked under protection.”

A Boeing spokeswoman declined to answer questions on Barnett but in a statement, said that OSHA had determined Barnett was not retaliated against, and that the company’s own analysis found that the issues he raised “did not affect airplane safety.”

“We are saddened by Mr. Barnetts passing and our thoughts continue to be with his family and friends,” the statement said.

“We encourage all employees to speak up when issues arise. Retaliation is strictly prohibited at Boeing.”

It’s news to other Boeing whistleblowers that Boeing and Spirit “encourage” workers to speak out.

Instead, they say, they’ve either been retaliated against or ignored.

Ed Pierson, 61, a former senior manager at Boeing’s 737 factory in Renton, Washington, left Boeing six years ago and created the Foundation for Aviation Safety.

He had tried in vain to get Boeing executives to shut down production of the plane before the two Boeing 737 Max crashes in 2018 and 2019 that killed 346 people and led to the planes being grounded.

“It’s an unstable company right now from the top to the bottom,” Pierson told The Post. “Senior corporate leadership is so fixated on not admitting the truth that they can’t admit anything.”

Pierson did not mince words when he testified before Congress last month about what he called the “criminal cover-up” he believes Boeing bosses have led.

“Boeing is an American icon,” Pierson said. “This company is incredibly important to our country, both economically and in terms of national security with its commercial aviation side and it military defense work. But it doesn’t work when you have the wrong people driving the bus.”

Barnett was a quality control engineer who worked for Boeing for more than three decades before he retired in 2017.

He broke his silence two years later to warn that Boeing cut corners to speed its 787 Dreamliners into service and in numerous interviews described how he had complained internally to the company about what he claimed were serious safety flaws.

After his apparent suicide in March, Boeing employees told The Post that Barnett had made “powerful enemies” and one said workers were skeptical that Barnett’s death was suicide.

Dean had raised the alarm in 2022, while working at Spirit AeroSystems, a Wichita, Kansas-based company which manufactures major aircraft parts for Boeing.

He was a quality auditor when he raised concerns about improperly drilled bulkhead holes on parts for the 737 Max.

But, he alleged, flagging the issue with his management had no effect.

Less than a year later he was fired.

I think they were sending out a message to anybody else, Dean later told NPR of his firing. If you are too loud, we will silence you.

Boeing has been dogged by whistleblower testimony and Congressional investigations.

A scathing House report issued in Sept. 2020 found that the two 737 Max crashes were the horrific culmination of repeated and serious failures by the company and air safety regulators.

“Boeing was a Seattle company. Back in the day a typical Boeing CEO was a hyper-midwestern farm boy who saw airplanes as a kid and went off to Seattle to conquer the world,” Craig Jenks, who runs the Airline/Aircraft Projects Inc. consultancy, told The Post.

“Then the finance people started taking over in the 1980s and they moved the corporate headquarters to Chicago and then to DC. It means senior management is never around the factory floor.”

The most headline-grabbing safety lapse was in January, when a fuselage panel blew off a new Alaskan Airlines 737 although late last month, a safety slide fell off a Delta 767 and washed up, with perfect irony, in front of the home of an attorney suing Boeing over safety issues.

In the Alaskan airlines case, a whistleblower told the Seattle Times that the fault lay with Boeing, whose records showed that after the fuselage was delivered by Spirit, a panel had been removed at Boeing’s Renton factory and re-installed minus four crucial bolts.

In the air, the panel flew off fortunately, at a low enough altitude that the plane did not depressurize.

It is …very, very stupid and speaks volumes about the quality culture at certain portions of the business,” the whistleblower told the Seattle Times.

A number of Boeing employees have alleged to the New York Times that the manufacturer has allowed mechanics to sign off on their own work, cutting out a layer of safety assurance.

“Profit has overtaken the historically famous pride of Boeing,” Peter Lake, an aviation expert who has investigated a number of plane crashes over the years, told The Post.

“It’s all corporate greed now. It’s become a standing joke that when there’s any malfunction in an airplane people say it’s Boeing.

“Soutwest Airlines had an engine failure recently and people ignorantly blamed Boeing. That shows what a cloud the company is under.

“Who knows if they’ll be able to pull themselves out of this disaster?”

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Oilers forward Hyman injured in 1st, exits Game 4

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Oilers forward Hyman injured in 1st, exits Game 4

EDMONTON, Alberta — Edmonton Oilers‘ top-line forward Zach Hyman was ruled out for the rest of Game 4 of the Western Conference finals Tuesday against the Dallas Stars after taking a hit from forward Mason Marchment, ESPN’s Emily Kaplan reported on the game broadcast.

The first-period collision appeared to immediately rattle Hyman, who dropped his stick and seemed to favor his right arm or wrist. Hyman went directly to the Oilers’ dressing room and did not return.

Hyman has been a key member of the Oilers’ postseason success, registering a league-leading 119 hits in 14 playoff games and scoring five goals and 11 points. He’s a fixture on the team’s top forward unit with Connor McDavid and is part of both the Oilers’ power play and penalty kill.

Edmonton was already down a forward going into Game 4 with Connor Brown sidelined after a hit from Dallas defenseman Alexander Petrovic in Sunday’s Game 3. Viktor Arvidsson returned to the lineup as Brown’s replacement on the fourth line.

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Referee Rooney returns, 11 days after high stick

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Referee Rooney returns, 11 days after high stick

EDMONTON, Alberta — NHL official Chris Rooney was back on the ice Tuesday night for Game 4 of the Western Conference finals between the Edmonton Oilers and Dallas Stars.

It was the veteran referee’s conference finals debut, and a fitting return for Rooney given the circumstances. It was Rooney’s first game since he took a high stick to the face on May 17 during Game 7 of the Eastern Conference second-round series between the Toronto Maple Leafs and Florida Panthers.

Rooney was injured 13 seconds into the second period when Panthers’ defenseman Niko Mikkola caught him with the end of his stick while fighting for a puck. Rooney fell to the ice and was tended to by trainers from both teams.

While bloodied, he was able to leave under his own power. Rooney sustained a black eye and received stitches for his injury but had no lasting damage. He was replaced at the time by Garrett Rank, in the building on standby in case on injury.

It was clear even the day after his injury that Rooney, 50, hoped to resume duties at some point in the playoffs. The Boston native was finally able to step in for Game 4 with fellow referee Dan O’Rourke.

The pair was joined by linesmen Ryan Gibbons and Matt MacPherson. Referee Graham Skilliter and linesman Ryan Daisy were in the building as alternates.

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Hintz (leg) back in action, joins Stars’ top line

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Hintz (leg) back in action, joins Stars' top line

EDMONTON, Alberta — Dallas Stars forward Roope Hintz is back in the lineup for Game 4 of the Western Conference finals Tuesday.

The club’s top skater, sidelined since Game 2, when he took a slash to the left leg from Edmonton Oilers defenseman Darnell Nurse, was placed on the top line, alongside Jason Robertson and Mikko Rantanen after taking warmups and line rushes prior to puck drop.

Hintz also took part in warmups before Game 3 on Sunday but exited early and was ruled out. He was back on the ice for Dallas’ optional practice Monday and told reporters he was “feeling good” and “trying to do everything I can” to get back in for Game 4.

It was early in the third period of Game 2 when Hintz — parked in front of the Oilers’ net — shoved Nurse from behind, and the Oilers’ blueliner responded by swinging his stick at Hintz’s leg. Hintz went down to the ice for several minutes before being helped off by Lian Bichsel and Mikael Granlund.

Nurse received a two-minute penalty for the slash but no supplementary discipline from the league. The blueliner addressed the incident publicly for the first time Tuesday, saying it didn’t come with malicious intent.

“I was backing up to net and I got shot in the back. And I think it was just a natural reaction [to respond],” Nurse said. “It’s probably a play that everyone in this room, whether you’re a net-front guy or D man, probably happens a dozen, two dozen times in a year. It’s unfortunate that I must have got [Hintz] in a bad spot. You don’t want to go out there and hurt anyone. But it was just one of those plays that happens so often.”

Having Hintz unavailable hurt the Stars in Game 3, a 6-1 drubbing by the Oilers that put Dallas in a 2-1 hole in the best-of-seven series. Hintz is the Stars’ second-leading scorer in the postseason, with 11 goals and 15 points through 15 games. He was hopeful when taking warmups Sunday that he’d feel good enough to get back in, but a quick discussion with the training staff made it clear he wasn’t ready.

Before Tuesday night, coach Peter DeBoer had since classified Hintz’s status as day-to-day.

“Of course you want to go every night, but sometimes you just can’t,” Hintz said. “I don’t know how close I [was to playing]. But I have played many years [and I] know when it’s good and when it’s not. I should be good to know that [when] it comes to that decision.”

The Oilers will have some lineup changes of their own to sort through in Game 4. Connor Brown, who is out after taking a hit from Alexander Petrovic in Game 3, will be replaced by Viktor Arvidsson. Calvin Pickard, injured in Edmonton’s second-round series against Vegas, will return to back up Stuart Skinner. And Edmonton continues to wait on defenseman Mattias Ekholm, who is getting closer to returning from a lower-body injury.

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