A former Boeing quality manager blew the whistle on the safety of the company’s 787 passenger jet plane a year before one went down Thursday in a fiery crash in India, killing more than 200 people.

Check out this chilling clip … John Barnett appeared on “TMZ Live” in January 2024 to talk about safety concerns at the time about Boeing’s 737 — but also mentioned the company’s 787 Dreamliner, because he claimed the company’s operations “put a strong effort into removing quality from the process” of constructing the aircrafts.

His bombshell allegations were that Boeing had been cutting inspection crews and expert staff for over a decade … and suggested more due diligence was needed.

As you know, a London-bound Air India Dreamliner went down today in Ahmedabad, India just 30 seconds after takeoff. Out of the 242 souls on board, only one survivor has been located.

There is zero evidence yet of mechanical failure causing the crash, but we do know the crew issued a “mayday” call” immediately after getting off the ground.

As we’ve reported … Barnett was found dead by suicide just 2 months after he spoke to TMZ.