Sometimes the 737 sucks...

[English]

JET ENGINE SUCKS IN WORKER

Rescuers find only his boots

AN AIRCRAFT engineer has been killed by being sucked into a jet engine.

Horrified workmates could only find the maintenance worker's boots lying on
the ground under the Boeing 737 airliner.

Tragedy struck when a pilot started up the plane's two engines, not
realising the man was examining them.

Within seconds, his entire body had been blasted through the huge rotor
blades.

His screams were drowned out by the roar of the jets.

It was only when airport staff noticed blood spattered on the ground behind
one engine that the gruesome accident came to light.

The plane, owned by Kazakhstan airline Air Astana, had to be taken out of
service while the engine was cleaned. The incident led to an investigation
by airport authorities.

The plane was understood to be about to leave Moscow for London.

The Russian contractor worked for a number of airlines, including British
carriers. An airline source said: 'Everyone is in shock. The engineer was
examining an engine but the pilot had not been notified.

'Within seconds of starting up the engines, the worker was dead.

'It is highly unusual because there are strict safety procedures which are
followed by pilots and engineers to ensure these tragedies don't happen.

'The only comfort for the engineer's family and colleagues was that he would
have died very quickly and not known much about it.'

Russian officials yesterday confirmed the incident but would not add further
details.

The victim's name, age and the precise date of his death were not revealed.
http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/tm_objectid=14827727&method=full&siteid=89488&headline=jet-engine-sucks-in-worker-name_page.html

 

[low-n-slow]

This reminds me...remember the video of that dude sucked into the intake of the Navy (A-6 Intruder?) jet while on carrier ops a while back? I never did hear all of the story but am I right in understanding that the guy lived through the ordeal? What's the story, anybody know?

 

[TonyC]

We decided over on this thread that there's something fishy about the story.

 

[English]

Hmmm, I didn't see that thread.

This article was emailed to me by Curt Lewis, the publisher of the Flight Safety Information Journal. Here's the website www.fsinfo.org

Don't know if it is accurate, but it seems odd he'd send out false information.

 

[TonyC]

Hmmm, I didn't see that thread.

This article was emailed to me by Curt Lewis, the publisher of the Flight Safety Information Journal. Here's the website www.fsinfo.org

Don't know if it is accurate, but it seems odd he'd send out false information.

I don't doubt the authenticity of the report, only the "facts" represented in the report. I think it's highly unlikely anyone could be inspecting an engine before the start sequence began, and wind up being "eaten" by that engine, all except for the boots. It probably takes upwards of 60 seconds for the engine to achieve ground idle from a dead stop. It ain't that hard to see that it's turning, and to get away from it in that amount of time.

 

[English]

The article looks like it came from one of those British tabloids.

Isn't that where all good aviation news comes from?

 

[mattpilot]

don't know nothing about the story, but perhaps it was a suicide?

 

[Hugh Jorgan]

This reminds me...remember the video of that dude sucked into the intake of the Navy (A-6 Intruder?) jet while on carrier ops a while back? I never did hear all of the story but am I right in understanding that the guy lived through the ordeal? What's the story, anybody know?

True story. The guy lived because when his cranial (navy jargon for helmet) came off, it fodded the engine. He got out unscathed...well, he had a hell of a hickie.
Others have not been so lucky. The A-7 swallowed quite a few unfortunates in its' day. Nothing but hamburger on the JBD's to show for them.
One dude at Aloha lost his arm to a 737 intake a while back.
Be careful out there.

 

[Uncle Sparky]

True story. The guy lived because when his cranial (navy jargon for helmet) came off, it fodded the engine. He got out unscathed...well, he had a hell of a hickie.
Others have not been so lucky. The A-7 swallowed quite a few unfortunates in its' day. Nothing but hamburger on the JBD's to show for them.
One dude at Aloha lost his arm to a 737 intake a while back.
Be careful out there.

We had to watch that video for shipboard firefighting training and the instructor told us that he broke his collarbones as they caught on the borders of the inner inlet. .....gave me chills watching it the first time, before we saw him crawling back out and realized that he survived!

The guy (probably 170-200lbs) looked like a wet noodle because of the force with which he was pulled in. And they're trying to say a five pound pair of boots would just stay on the ground on an aircraft that has intakes set three feet LOWER than the A-6!??

 

[EagleRJ]

There was a suicide by a ramp worker a year or two ago- I forget where. The plane was pushing back, and the ramper charged the #1 and dove in head first.

What a way to go!

 

[Flymach2]

Originally Posted by low-n-slow
This reminds me...remember the video of that dude sucked into the intake of the Navy (A-6 Intruder?) jet while on carrier ops a while back? I never did hear all of the story but am I right in understanding that the guy lived through the ordeal? What's the story, anybody know?

Notice in that video that at first there are two personnel under that aircraft during that event. The guy who was ingested by the engine was actually training another. The position is known as Topside Safety Petty Officer and amongst other things they are responsible for ensuring the aircraft is attatched to the shuttle,(catapult), and the hold back bar. During a training event, the trainee is closest to the nose wheel strut and checks for the parameters mentioned previously. The trainer comes in behind after the trainee vacates and ensures all is well. Apparently after the trainee exited, (properly, I might add), this trainer stood up before moving toward the front of the A6 and was ingested. It is true the cranial caused the engine to flame out, but he did suffer damage other than the clavicals. Eardrums were burst as well as petechial hemorrhaging of the eyes. Nevertheless, he was lucky.

Regards

 

[FN FAL]

There was a suicide by a ramp worker a year or two ago- I forget where. The plane was pushing back, and the ramper charged the #1 and dove in head first.

What a way to go!

I give a guy like that "some" credit...he wanted out, didn't take anybody else with him and what a way to stick your employer with a big FU on the way out!

Not that I condone such a thing or suicide in general, but I do admire the man's gumption!

 

[Jim]

This reminds me...remember the video of that dude sucked into the intake of the Navy (A-6 Intruder?) jet while on carrier ops a while back? I never did hear all of the story but am I right in understanding that the guy lived through the ordeal? What's the story, anybody know?

This happened on the USS Theodore Roosevelt and I was the Officer of the Deck at the time of the incident. I saw the whole thing from the ship's bridge.



The A-6 was on a waist cat and just went to full power when there was a shower of sparks from the starboard engine. Everyone thought the engine had FODed and it was not until at least 5 minutes latter that we realized someone had been sucked into the intake.



When an aircraft is at full power and the catapult under tension, the cat has to be saffe before the pilot can come back on the power. In this case, there was a problem safing the cat, and the jet sat there for quite a while with the engine fully spooled up. After the cat was safed and the engine shut down, the deck crew did a quick FOD check around the aircraft and shined a light down the intake without seeing anything bad. The Captain was than asked for if a mech could "duct dive" into the intake. Since the plane was still on the cat, this took the carrier CO's permission. The CO had just hung up the phone after telling them to wait tow the plane off the cat before "duct diving" when the young man sucked into the intake crawled out. I saw this an pointed it out to the CO saying "didn't you just deny the duct dive?” The CO got really pissed and called the Air Boss to ream his a$$. The Air Boss than got on the horn to ream the deck crew's a$$es. While the Chief was passing this on by reaming the young sailors a$$, he realized the guy was in a total daze. It was than people started putting 2+2 together and realized this guy was the FOD.



The guy was sucked head first into to the intake and the chin strap on his cranial (safety helmet) caught on the snap link that holds FOD screens in place over the intake when maintenance runs were done. The guy swung 180 degrees head over heels with this strap holding his head in place. The tension on the strap cut off the blood to his brain and he passed out. It wasn't until after the engine was shut down and the tension on the strap eased that his blood flow was restored and he regained consciousness. Than he slowly crawled out of the intake and staggered onto the deck. The only part that made contact with the turbine blades was the toe portion of the sole of one of his boots. That caused the sparks and the damage to the turbine blades was very minimal.



The sailor had a strained neck and spent the night in sick bay to ensure the lack of blood did not cause any damage. He was back on the flight deck within a couple of days. He did not realize what had happened until he was in sick bay. He was offered a job off the flight deck but refused.



The sailor who sent the tape to "Real TV" (where it first got televised) got Captain's Mast (punished) because he made an unauthorized copy of the PLAT camera's tape (flight deck recording system) and sold this government property for a profit. I forgot all of the actual punishment, but I remember they had wanted to court martial him. He did get a significant monetary fine (more than he made on the sale) and some confinement to the ship.

 

[Jim]

Notice in that video that at first there are two personnel under that aircraft during that event. The guy who was ingested by the engine was actually training another. The position is known as Topside Safety Petty Officer and amongst other things they are responsible for ensuring the aircraft is attatched to the shuttle,(catapult), and the hold back bar. During a training event, the trainee is closest to the nose wheel strut and checks for the parameters mentioned previously. The trainer comes in behind after the trainee vacates and ensures all is well. Apparently after the trainee exited, (properly, I might add), this trainer stood up before moving toward the front of the A6 and was ingested. It is true the cranial caused the engine to flame out, but he did suffer damage other than the clavicals. Eardrums were burst as well as petechial hemorrhaging of the eyes. Nevertheless, he was lucky.

Regards

It was the trainee that was sucked in. I don't think his eardrums burst but he did have some very red eyes for a few days. I talked to him in sick bay about 3 hours after the incident because as Officer of the Deck, I had to do a follow up status report to the Captain.

The soles of the guy's boot caused the sparks/FODed the engine. The engine did not flame out but remained running at full power for at least 3 or 4 minutes before being shut down by the crew.

 

[cforst513]

hey, if you guys check out the link to the story given in the first thread, the webpage looks like it belongs to a tabloid. it's the british version of the National Enquirer or something. i do not believe this story at all.

 

[Flymach2]

Originally posted by Jim
It was the trainee that was sucked in. I don't think his eardrums burst but he did have some very red eyes for a few days. I talked to him in sick bay about 3 hours after the incident because as Officer of the Deck, I had to do a follow up status report to the Captain.

The soles of the guy's boot caused the sparks/FODed the engine. The engine did not flame out but remained running at full power for at least 3 or 4 minutes before being shut down by the crew.

Thanks for correcting the details, Jim

Regards

 

[A Squared]

It was the trainee that was sucked in.

I realize that it's a fool's game disagreeing with someone who was there, But........ I recall seeing a tv interview with the guy who went into the intake, and I remember him describing in great detail how he was traning a new person and that he was cheching the shuttle hook-up after the trainee, like flymach described. I remember thinking that it was ironic that the trainer got sucked up, and not the trainee. Also the video seems to support that scenario

 

[Jim]

It was the trainee. New kid who had only been on the flight deck for a few days.

Everytime I see this video on TV it has a different story attached to it.

 

[mattpilot]

http://www.big-boys.com/articles/jetintake.html


found video of the old navy incident