EWWWW! Mechanic sucked into jet engine

[rgphib]

Did anyone else hear about this today?
http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/01/16/air...ity/index.html

Mechanic sucked into jet engine

Fatal accident occurred as aircraft prepared to fly to Houston



(CNN) -- A mechanic standing near a Boeing 737 at El Paso International Airport in Texas was sucked into one of the engines and killed Monday, officials said.
Continental Airlines Flight 1515 was preparing to take off for Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston when "a maintenance-related engine run-up of the right-hand engine" was carried out, said Roland Herwig, a spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration's southwest region in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
"Someone on the ground was sucked into the engine," he said.
In a written statement, Continental Chairman and CEO Larry Kellner said the person killed was a mechanic who worked for one of the airline's suppliers.
"My fellow coworkers and I extend our heartfelt sympathies to the family and friends of the mechanic involved in this tragic event," Kellner said.
The 737-500 was carrying 114 passengers and five crew members at the time of the accident, he said.
"Continental is coordinating assistance for passengers who need help dealing with this tragedy," Kellner said. "Continental's Employee Assistance Program team is also flying to El Paso to meet with employees."
He said the incident occurred during a maintenance check in preparation for the plane's departure.
A spokeswoman for Boeing said Monday's incident is not the first such accident. "It doesn't happen very often," spokeswoman Liz Verdier said. "It has happened in the past."
Either way, she said, the responsibility lies with Continental: "The airlines are responsible for their safety procedures."
The National Transportation Safety Board has sent a team of investigators from its office in Denver, Colorado,Herwig said.

[biochemtine]

Oh My GOSH!!!

I'm totally speechless.

[Bigsweetie]

It's stories like this that make me glad my DH works INSIDE the plane and not around it.

People often ask me if I worry about DH's safety when he's flying. I honestly would worry ALOT more if he were a mechanic.

That's terribly sad. My heart goes out to his family.

Unfortunately this is probably going to be increasing "trend". My DH often flew to IAD and said that the ramp workers there made ALOT of dumb mistakes and almost got themselves killed NUMBEROUS times. Alot of them didn't speak English and didn't know the rules around airplanes. My DH has saved a couple of guys lives already. They (the crew) complained to management COUNTLESS times saying that someone is going to die if they don't do something.

Unfortunately i'm not surprised this happened.

[MQAAord]

At Eagle there were a couple rampers who got chopped up by the props. Not a good thing, very messy. One was an Ealge ramper who just wasn't paying attention, another was an AA ramper who'd come over to deliver some bags and wasn't paying attention to/familer with the props and went through the prop arc. Another ramper walked through the prop arc just as it was spinning up, he miraculously managed to walk between the blades, and was oblivious to what he'd done until the engine shut down, the pilots screamed bloody murder to ops, and a ramp sup finally came out and had a little chat with the ramper.

Mechanics are MUCH more highly trained & skilled than the average ramp rat, and I would expect a great deal more situational awareness from a mech, but accidents still happen.

As we see more and more outsourcing & lowest-bidder type operations people out there on the ramp, there WILL be more accidents. Such as the ramper who tore a hold in the fuselage of that Alaska plane with the belt loader. The idiot, who HAD to have knows he'd just caused damage to the plane, said nothing to no-one and drove away. The plane would not pressurize, and came back for a mercifully uneventful landing. This lowest bidder shit will not stop until the loss of life becomes more expensive for the airlines to deal with than employing and paying their OWN people. Sadly, like all things in aviation, safety is written in blood, and nothing will change until people start to die.

[Kristie]

that is just horribly sad!! I can't imagine what the passengers saw!! what a nightmare that would be!