US airport worker sucked into jet engines ‘repeatedly warned’ before tragic death
A US airport worker who died after being sucked into a jet engine had been repeatedly warned about the dangers of going near it, an investigation has found.
According to a report by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), the employee at the Montgomery Regional Airport in Alabama had undergone a safety huddle on how to move around the plane 10 minutes before it landed on December 31.
The crew carried out a second briefing when the American Eagle jet arrived after pilots left the aircraft running.
The pilots warned the ground crew that the plane would be left running as an auxiliary power unit on board wasn’t working, and the engines needed to stay running until the jet could be linked to another power source.
Before being killed, the employee had been given an additional warning after nearly being blown over by the plane’s jets.
Despite the warning, the employee soon walked in front of one of the engines and was sucked in and killed.
The report said that colleagues heard a loud bang as the engine shut down while the pilots said they felt the plane shake before realising what had happened.
The plane was carrying 63 passengers at the time and was being operated by American Airlines affiliate, Envoy Air.
Although the woman has not been named, the local union which represented her said she worked for Piedmont Airlines, a subsidiary of American Airlines.
