A ground support worker at the Montgomery Regional Airport Alabama (MGM/KMGM) died after they were “ingested into the engine” of a regional jet on Saturday, according to the National Transportation Safety Board.
The Envoy Air Embraer 170 jet was “parked at the gate with the parking brake set when a ground support personnel was ingested,” the NTSB said in a statement.
Envoy Air is a wholly owned subsidiary of American Airlines, which said in a statement that it was devastated by the accident involving a team member, who has yet to be named.
While injury or death from jet engine ingestion is very uncommon, it isn’t unprecedented. In 2008, Boeing highlighted the dangers of ingestion in a company magazine, saying that in about 40 years of operating Boeing 737 model 100 and 200 airplanes, there had been 33 reports of ingestions, with one of those causing death.
“When a jet engine operates, it creates a low air pressure area in the inlet. This low-pressure area causes a large quantity of air form the area forward of the inlet cowl to go into the engine. The air that is near the inlet cowl moves at a much higher velocity than air that is farther from the inlet. As a result, the amount of engine suction is small until ones nears the inlet, where the suction increases significantly.”
Airplane models with low ground clearance, typically seen in smaller regional jets, pose a greater hazard because the engine is potentially closer to workers.
The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating the jet engine ingestion accident in Montgomery and expects a report within a few weeks.
THOUGHTS AND PRAYERS GO OUT TO THE FAMILY AND FRIENDS AND STAFF AT AMERICAN AIRLINES.
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