Woman Backs Into Propeller, Kansas, fatal, 10/27

I read that in the morning KC news. That's a bad deal.

Always remember to keep your head on a swivel.
 
Dave Bahnson has reported here over the years that he studied something like 280 human into propeller accidents, and in 2/3 of the cases, the human walked into the propeller of a stationary airplane. I really try to minimize the time that I am parked with the engine turning on the ramp. Contact is almost always fatal. Condolences to her family...
 
www.theguardian.com

Photographer killed after accidentally walking into plane propeller in Kansas

Amanda Gallagher was taking pictures of skydivers when she inadvertently stepped back into a spinning propeller
www.theguardian.com www.theguardian.com

krcgtv.com

Skydiving photographer dies in Kansas propeller accident, authorities say

A woman from Kansas was killed during the weekend after she backed into an airplane's active propeller while taking photographs.
krcgtv.com krcgtv.com

Welp, another non-pilot propellor tragedy.

I'm not sure what good blaming the dead photographer will do ... but I assume someone was in the front seat minding the plane??


A photographer was killed after inadvertently walking into a spinning airplane propeller while taking pictures in Kansas.​
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Amanda Gallagher, 37, was on a work assignment on Saturday capturing pictures of skydivers getting on and off planes in the town of Derby – less than 15 miles from Wichita – when she stepped back into the propeller of a plane that was stationary yet still running.​
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The Air Capital Drop Zone, the skydiving center that operated the plane involved in the photographer’s death, said Gallagher violated “basic safety procedures”. “For unknown reasons … she moved in front of the wing” of the plane, aiming her camera upward to shoot photos, the statement said.​

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Certainly sounds like she is being blamed. Shut the engine off. I suppose some pilots just dread starting a hot engine.
 
I think I understand how this played out. She was facing backwards, under the wing. She backed up and then turned toward the prop to get a shot over the front of the wing. Backed/sidestepped into the rear of the prop from the area of the cowl.

I've dropped off pax with the engine running. In a low wing, if anyone walks around the wing tip, I shut down instantly. I also won't let the FBO line guy marshal the plane from in front. Sad deal, and fault all around I guess.
 
Barrett50 said:
I think I understand how this played out. She was facing backwards, under the wing. She backed up and then turned toward the prop to get a shot over the front of the wing. Backed/sidestepped into the rear of the prop from the area of the cowl.

I've dropped off pax with the engine running. In a low wing, if anyone walks around the wing tip, I shut down instantly. I also won't let the FBO line guy marshal the plane from in front. Sad deal, and fault all around I guess.
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I will shut down if anybody gets within 25' of the prop
 
I’m at a loss for how to prevent these sorts of things other than total abstinence… ie just shut the motor down before a door moves.

thought I saw a pic of her with a rig on… this places the accident squarely on distraction likely. She KNOWS her way around a plane.

The thing about putting it on the pilot, it cures lots of victim ailments… distraction, ignorance, complacency, tripping, you name it.

I do precious few of these events, I should prolly adopt the 25’ rule.
 
I’m taking away a few things from this one…….

In no particular order:

My wife of nearly 30 years has been my constant companion in aviation. Our 2nd date in 1995 involved a Cutlass from CPS to ALN and back. She’s smarter than the average bear. But I’m not taking her familiarity with aviation for granted when it comes to prop-strike risk.

I’m happy I fly a PA-32T with the rear-pax door. By its nature it keeps people behind the grinder.

I’m happy that I’ve sharpened up my preflight pax briefing. In short, I advise pax to remain in the cabin until either my wife or I come to get them out of the plane. I take a momentary uncharacteristically stone-serious tone when I point to the sharp of the plane, and let them know that I don’t want them anywhere near that.

If I have people unfamiliar with aviation - like the recent flight I just did with family of my friend (four people, all unfamiliar with GA)- it’s time to be 150% on-guard.
 
Terrible! I try to never say never, but I have yet have people milling around my aircraft with the prop turning...
 
ElPaso Pilot said:
Welp, another non-pilot propellor tragedy.

I'm not sure what good blaming the dead photographer will do ... but I assume someone was in the front seat minding the plane??


A photographer was killed after inadvertently walking into a spinning airplane propeller while taking pictures in Kansas.​
​
Amanda Gallagher, 37, was on a work assignment on Saturday capturing pictures of skydivers getting on and off planes in the town of Derby – less than 15 miles from Wichita – when she stepped back into the propeller of a plane that was stationary yet still running.​
​
The Air Capital Drop Zone, the skydiving center that operated the plane involved in the photographer’s death, said Gallagher violated “basic safety procedures”. “For unknown reasons … she moved in front of the wing” of the plane, aiming her camera upward to shoot photos, the statement said.​
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Who else is there to blame? This is not a typical "non-pilot" mishap. She was an experienced skydiver, and no doubt well aware of the dangers present around a running aircraft engine. It's all well and good to say one should pull the mixture when someone approaches a spinning propeller.

That's not an instantaneous effect, especially considering the pause before a startle reaction by the pilot. Not only that, every pilot performs in cockpit tasks after engine startup. One does not sit and scan around the aircraft and over the cowl at all times the engine is running.

The pilot of the plane has experienced a life altering trauma that happened in an instant and which he had no control over. Assigning any responsibility upon that individual is misplaced.
 
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I recall a somewhat similar incident of a skydiver being struck. She was well aware to always approach aircraft from the side, never the front. Unfortunately, one day the dropzone brought in a twin. Walking along the wing didn't work that time.
 
Yeah the one years ago with the girl who worked the counter at the drop zone. Always brought food out to the pilots because they didn’t have time to shutdown for lunch. Walked right into the prop. Think it was a twin otter.
 
Quit trying to assign blame. It doesn’t matter.
She was probably engaged in an activity she’d done many times. Unfortunately a moment of inattention turned it tragic.
We should use this as a learning experience and not assign blame. It doesn’t matter.
 
I have never let anyone in or out of the plane with the engine running. Once someone motioned me into their plane with the prop spinning. I motioned to cut the engine first.
I have tripped over nothing in my living room before. Every one has at some point been surprised to find themselves falling for seemingly no reason. Humans are clumsy. Not worth it.
 
I grew up in an aviation family. I was always around airplanes and I know how to move around them safely.

One day I was standing next to a plane at a fly-in. I barely heard a muffled "clear" and the engine started immediately. I was way too close to the prop and though I was safe, it gave me chills! Even experienced people have brain farts occasionally.
 
Had that saw experience as a Civil Air Patrol cadet back in the late 70’s. I just handed the pilot some information and was walking out to marshal the aircraft and he cranks it up. Scared the crap out of me. Almost threw my clip board at him.
 
SixPapaCharlie said:
I have never let anyone in or out of the plane with the engine running. Once someone motioned me into their plane with the prop spinning. I motioned to cut the engine first.
I have tripped over nothing in my living room before. Every one has at some point been surprised to find themselves falling for seemingly no reason. Humans are clumsy. Not worth it.
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meh. I think it depends on who it is. if someone is picking me up, I always offer that they don't have to shut down if they don't want to. but if I'm taking ANY non-pilot, I'm not taking any chances.
 
Same thing with people losing hands and feet to a lawn mower.
 
She probably shouldn’t have been taking pictures near the plane with the engine running. I can think of no reason why that would be necessary. But still, the engine should have been off.
 
PaulS said:
She probably shouldn’t have been taking pictures near the plane with the engine running. I can think of no reason why that would be necessary. But still, the engine should have been off.
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I don't think we know the circumstances to say that for sure. It's quite possible the aircraft was about to taxi out for takeoff...
 
3393RP said:
The pilot of the plane has experienced a life altering trauma that happened in an instant and which he had no control over. Assigning any responsibility upon that individual is misplaced.
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Many experienced life altering trauma that day.

"Assigning any responsibility upon that individual is misplaced"?

Unless you are intimately aware of the operation and individuals involved -- you, me, and the rest of the keyboard warriors have no idea what behaviors and protocols were in place that day. Or not.

There are always tradeoffs and improvements that can be made to balance risk, exposure, safety, and revenue.

I would hope that there is a review of what happened to ask if anything could have or should have been done differently.
 
3393RP said:
The pilot of the plane has experienced a life altering trauma that happened in an instant and which he had no control over.
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He certainly had control over the prop.
 
It's hard to imagine anything making this more horrible, but apparently ghoulish jokes and finger pointing can do it.
 
idahoflier said:
I don't think we know the circumstances to say that for sure. It's quite possible the aircraft was about to taxi out for takeoff...
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The article said she was backing up while taking photos. I can’t imagine it’s a good idea to be doing anything while in proximity of a running prop except concentrating on staying away from it.
 
The drop zone I went to a couple times for tandems shuts down the engine on the passenger side of the plane. There is no reason for the pax to go to the other side of the plane.

At a bare minimum, this allows the pilot the advantage of having to only monitor one side of the plane. In practice, it's got to have tons more benefit than that since there should never be anyone on the spinning side of the plane with an opportunity to do something spacey.
 
Not that it really matters: was there confirmation it was a prop on the jump plane and not another airplane on the ramp?
 
3393RP said:
Who else is there to blame? This is not a typical "non-pilot" mishap. She was an experienced skydiver, and no doubt well aware of the dangers present around a running aircraft engine. It's all well and good to say one should pull the mixture when someone approaches a spinning propeller.
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A couple years ago I met a CFI who had walked into a prop after a long day of teaching at Ann Arbor, the University of Michigan flying club. She had a lot of injuries to one arm, very lucky to be alive. She blamed it on fatigue.

Generally, CFIs are very aware of the risk. I do exit a running airplane on the first solo, and before I do, I tell the student if I have a senior moment and walk in front of the wing, turn off the key. Mixture to idle is not fast enough.

We fly Cessna trainers, and I always step out behind the strut, walk to the tail and knock on the horizontal stabilizer to let the pilot know I am back there and clear.
 
PaulS said:
The article said she was backing up while taking photos. I can’t imagine it’s a good idea to be doing anything while in proximity of a running prop except concentrating on staying away from it.
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Agreed. My comment was directed at "But still, the engine should have been off"...
 
Cwspilot said:
We should use this as a learning experience and not assign blame.
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Blame is often essential to the learning experience.

Almost all accidents involve failures of responsibility. Those failures must be identified to draw the correct conclusions about how to prevent repeat occurrences.
 
Ed Haywood said:
Blame is often essential to the learning experience.

Almost all accidents involve failures of responsibility. Those failures must be identified to draw the correct conclusions about how to prevent repeat occurrences.
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But assigning blame to only one or two people can severely limit the learning.
 
My condolences to anyone who had to see that. I can imagine how traumatic that could have been for anyone in the splash zone....ugh
 
Heads up on the ramp.

Mishap investigations are not to assign blame. They are to identify operational issues that need to be changed to reduce the risk.
 
tonycondon said:
Dave Bahnson has reported here over the years that he studied something like 280 human into propeller accidents, and in 2/3 of the cases, the human walked into the propeller of a stationary airplane. I really try to minimize the time that I am parked with the engine turning on the ramp. Contact is almost always fatal. Condolences to her family...
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The reason I did that study was because I happened to have parked next to a C172 that I had previously owned. I inquired about the new owner and learned that he was in the hospital having been seriously injured in a propeller accident. The owner had loaned the plane to a friend, who lost the keys so he hot wired the mags. During the next pre-flight, the owner moved the prop, which started the engine and caught the pilot's tie, pulling him into the running engine. Since I had to present a paper at the medical society I belonged to, I spent a day or two at the NTSB office in Washington reviewing a span of consecutive accident records involving propeller injuries, both helicopter and airplane

The conclusion in the paper was fairly simple. Virtually all of the injuries and fatalities were due to carelessness and were completely preventable. Most were rather gruesome.

(I still cringe whenever I hear "clear" and immediately hear the engine start up, so I always allow at least five or more seconds between the clearing announcement and engine start up.)
 
PaulS said:
The article said she was backing up while taking photos. I can’t imagine it’s a good idea to be doing anything while in proximity of a running prop except concentrating on staying away from it.
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I don't understand why the engine was running when it sounds like just a photo op.
 
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