Mech sucked into CAL jet engine

[ultrarunner]

That engine had just come out of a hot section, if I remember correctly. Apples and oranges.

Expensive HOT Section wasn't it? Hull loss as I recall.

 

[Spooky 1]

Back in the early seventies Western Airlines had a mechanic sucked into the engine of a -200 B737. He survived, but several of his tools didn't! Scrap one engine!

 

[ReportCanoa]

I think it standard procedure to use a harness ALL the time, regardless of who you work for. For whatever reason, this guy chose not to wear one. Whose fault is that?

Point well received, but having modern safety procedures is not a universal certainty, especially in the contract world. A tragedy nonetheless.

 

[EagleRJ]

And this was being done with passengers on board? Interesting.

And because of that, this is considered a fatal aircraft accident, not an industrial accident, according to NTSB Part 830.


The harness that mechanics are required to wear when doing this: where is it attached? Maybe to a vehicle that is parked off to the side?

 

[EWR_FO]

The harness that mechanics are required to wear when doing this: where is it attached? Maybe to a vehicle that is parked off to the side?

The one time I saw it done, it was attached to the main gear.

 

[Cactus-Wrench]

Wow, tragic loss here, what a horrible way to lose someone.
As to having pax on board, I think that depends on the airline. My last carrier spelled it out that if we needed to bring the engine(s), off idle then
1. stop any fueling
2. stop boarding and deboard the a/c for safety reasons.

The timing from that kind of stemmed from the twa flight 800 and if fuel pumps are running and engines are for mx, well more chances of liability and loss in case of an accident.

Assuming the 75% is N2, that's really not (high power run) so to speak, but in my 15 years with 2 majors, I have never nor have I ever seen someone harnessed to a engine, gear, fuselage, or anything else. If there is going to be anything say part power or up, then run that mother and watch from a safe distance then go observe after engine is back at idle.
I think the only exception I have really seen to this is on the jt8d's, but comparing those with the cfm's is not even in the same ballpark for sucking up a bystander.

 

[XR650R]

I know the the 73 is a relatively small jet but those engines are exceedingly powerful and very close to the ground. Case in point. SWA did a high power static run up (MX) in MSY a few years back in a -300. The engine ended up "inhaling" a little FOD. Seems the power was set high enough (Max I assume) to suck a piece of pavement up from right underneath the engine. I assume there was a crack in the pavement. You can guess what happened next. It damn near tore the engine off the wing. A/C was down for about two weeks as I recall.

 

["GO AROUND"]

Didn't SWA have a mech. sucked into a -200 years ago in HOU? Story I heard was the splitter caught him in the head and his big winter jacket blocked the inlet and caused a compressor stall and blew him back out the front. Just what I heard, don't know if it's true.

 

[canyonblue737]

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