Death By Jet Engine Ingestion At SAT

[PHXPhlyer]

Awful: Worker Ingested By Delta Jet Engine At San Antonio Airport

https://onemileatatime.com/news/worker- ... et-engine/

My gosh, this is simply heartbreaking. What makes it worse is that this isn’t the first time in recent memory that something like this has happened.

In this post:

San Antonio Airport worker dies while working Delta flight
What could cause something like this?
Bottom line
San Antonio Airport worker dies while working Delta flight
On Friday, June 23, 2023, a ground crew worker at San Antonio Airport was ingested by the engine of a Delta Air Lines Airbus A319. This incident involves flight DL1111, operating from Los Angeles (LAX) to San Antonio (SAT), which touched down at 10:19PM. The flight was operated by a 19-year-old Airbus A319 with the registration code N370NB.

The employee didn’t work directly for Delta, but rather worked for Unifi Aviation, a ground handling company that Delta contracts to. Based on the preliminary report, the aircraft was taxiing to the gate with one engine on when the person was ingested by the engine.

Firefighters and police officers were called to the scene at around 10:25PM, and the incident is now being investigated by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). No information has been made available about the person who died.

In a statement, Delta has said that it’s “heartbroken and grieving the loss of an aviation family member’s life.” Meanwhile Unifi Aviation, the employer of the person who died, issued the following statement:

“Unifi Aviation is deeply saddened by the loss of our employee at San Antonio International Airport during a tragic incident in the late hours of Friday, June 23, 2023. Our hearts go out to the family of the deceased, and we remain focused on supporting our employees on the ground and ensuring they are being taken care of during this time.”

“From our initial investigation, this incident was unrelated to Unifi’s operational processes, safety procedures and policies. Out of respect for the deceased, we will not be sharing any additional information. While police and other officials continue to investigate this incident, we defer to them on providing further details.”

There are a couple of things worth emphasizing here:

Under 24 hours after the accident, the company is saying that the accident was unrelated to the company’s “operational processes, safety procedures and policies” — I suppose that’s fair enough, because obviously something didn’t happen as it was supposed to, or else there wouldn’t have been a fatality
“Out of respect for the deceased,” the company won’t be sharing any additional information; at this point the investigation is in the hands of the NTSB, so I guess it’s not on the company to comment any further
My thoughts are with the person who died, and their family. What a tragic situation.

Play
What could cause something like this?
Aviation is so incredibly safe thanks to all the people who work hard every day to ensure that happens. It’s sad that working on the ground seems to be more dangerous than being on a plane.

We don’t have any details yet about how exactly this happened, other than the ground handling company stating that this was unrelated to the company’s “operational processes, safety procedures and policies.”

Jet engines produce a lot of thrust. Engine power is intentionally kept quite low on the ground (aside from when taking off on the runway), given the number of people and things on the ramp. Airlines sometimes taxi with one engine on to reduce fuel burn, meaning that engine requires a bit more thrust, but still, the thrust amount shouldn’t be dangerous in any way, as long as procedures are being followed.

What we don’t yet know is what wasn’t happening as it should. As the plane taxied to the gate, was the ground worker closer to the engine than they should have been? Did the ground worker approach the engine area too soon? Did the Delta pilots use more thrust than they should have? The NTSB will be investigating all of this, so we should have a clearer picture of what happened in the future.

Sadly this isn’t the first time that we’ve seen something like this, and it probably won’t be the last. In late December 2022, a ramper was ingested by the engine of an American Eagle Embraer E175 at Montgomery Airport in Alabama.

In that case, an NTSB investigation revealed that the plane had an inoperative auxiliary power unit (APU), so the pilots left both engines running for the required two minute engine cool down period. A pilot opened a cockpit window to remind the ground crew that an engine was still running, but at that point it was too late, as a ground worker had been ingested by the engine.


A similar accident happened in late 2022 at Montgomery Airport
Bottom line
On Friday night, an employee for an airport ground handling company at San Antonio Airport was ingested by the engine of a Delta Airbus A319 that was arriving from Los Angeles. We don’t know many details yet, other than that the Delta A319 was taxiing to the gate with one engine on when this happened. I”m sure an NTSB report will reveal all the details of what happened.

My thoughts are with the the person who lost their life and their family. Ugh…

PP

[tango15]

In that case, an NTSB investigation revealed that the plane had an inoperative auxiliary power unit (APU), so the pilots left both engines running for the required two minute engine cool down period. A pilot opened a cockpit window to remind the ground crew that an engine was still running, but at that point it was too late, as a ground worker had been ingested by the engine.

I imagine the anti-colls were still running, though?

It's very sad, and a hell of a way to go. I'm sure we've all seen the videos of people who have been ingested into jet engines. It's also extremely unpleasant for those who have to deal with it.

[Woody]

A very sad incident, but it’s very easy to forget about the dangers of engine ingestion when you’ve done multiple arrivals during your shift and you automatically start your processes without following safety protocols. BA have had a major campaign about this in the last couple of months, as they’ve got so many new people who don’t appear to appreciate the dangers and have had a few incidents recently. As for the u/s APU there’s a set procedure, where the arriving aircraft stops short on the stand, the flight deck will give the ground power signal to the ground staff and then complete the arrival after receiving an acknowledgment from the ground staff.

Something like this

[Boac]

Any suicide is tragic, of course, but if you are going to 'go' surely one should try to inconvenience the rest of the world as much as possible, and if this was a deliberate act it certainly did not achieve that.

[tango15]

A very sad incident, but it’s very easy to forget about the dangers of engine ingestion when you’ve done multiple arrivals during your shift and you automatically start your processes without following safety protocols. BA have had a major campaign about this in the last couple of months, as they’ve got so many new people who don’t appear to appreciate the dangers and have had a few incidents recently. As for the u/s APU there’s a set procedure, where the arriving aircraft stops short on the stand, the flight deck will give the ground power signal to the ground staff and then complete the arrival after receiving an acknowledgment from the ground staff.

Something like this

Blimey Woody, I'd almost forgotten about that! Seen it used once or twice many moons ago, though. As you will know only too well, the problem with a jet-engined aircraft taxying towards you is that with the ear defenders on, you can't really hear it. I know that on several occasions where there have been 'near misses' - usually with new staff as you say, their response was 'I thought he'd turned the engines off.' This, as we know, is why you should always watch the anti-coll lights.

[Boac]

The anti-col may well have been irrelevant here as ground power is often connected with an engine/s running.

[PHXPhlyer]

Airline ground crew member killed by plane engine at SA airport identified
Firefighters and police officers responded to the incident at around 10:25 p.m. Friday night.

https://www.kens5.com/article/news/loca ... 64e1cbc6c3

SAN ANTONIO — San Antonio International Airport officials are investigating after the death of an airline ground crew member.

Firefighters and police officers responded to the incident at around 10:25 p.m. Friday night.

The NTSB said Saturday the worker went into the engine of a Delta Airlines jet. Monday, the Bexar County Medical Examiner identified the man as David Renner, 27. They also ruled his cause of death as blunt and sharp force injuries and his manner of death as suicide.

"Delta Flight 1111 was taxiing to the gate, with one engine on at that time, and a worker was ingested into that engine at 10:25 p.m," the NTSB said in a statement. "The NTSB has been in contact with Delta. They are in the information gathering process at this point."

The flight had just arrived from Los Angeles at the time.

The worker was employed by a company that Delta Airlines contracts with to support ground handling operations, Unifi Aviation. The airline said Saturday morning it was full supporting ongoing investigations. Delta released the following statement.

"We are heartbroken and grieving the loss of an aviation family member’s life in San Antonio. Our hearts and full support are with their family, friends and loved ones during this difficult time."

On Saturday afternoon, Unifi Aviation released the following statement:

"Unifi Aviation is deeply saddened by the loss of our employee at San Antonio International Airport during a tragic incident in the late hours of Friday, June 23, 2023. Our hearts go out to the family of the deceased, and we remain focused on supporting our employees on the ground and ensuring they are being taken care of during this time.

From our initial investigation, this incident was unrelated to Unifi’s operational processes, safety procedures and policies. Out of respect for the deceased, we will not be sharing any additional information. While police and other officials continue to investigate this incident, we defer to them on providing further details."


PP

[G-CPTN]

his manner of death as suicide.

Not a lot you can add to that . . .