A preliminary report released by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) details a fatal accident involving a Montgomery Regional Airport worker on New Year's Eve.
The victim was Courtney Edwards, who was a mother of three children. The accident prompted a GoFundMe page to support her family, which has raised $98,265.
Following the death of Edwards an investigation was launched into the incident.
Protocols are in place to keep people safe as a plane lands, particularly around the engines as they go through a process of being turned off. However, despite safety meetings that were held before the plane landed the report suggests that the protocols were not followed.
The report states:
"The ground crew reported that a safety briefing was held about 10 minutes before the airplane arrived at the gate. A second safety "huddle” was held shortly before the airplane arrived at the gate, to reiterate that the engines would remain running until ground power was connected. It was also discussed that the airplane should not be approached, and the diamond of safety cones should not be set until the engines were off, spooled down, and the airplane’s rotating beacon light had been extinguished by the flight crew."
The report says that even though the engines were still running after the plane landed workers still approached it, though a ramp agent tried to warn others away.
According to the report the engines of a plane are "extremely dangerous" until they are spooled down or turned off, which can take between 30 to 60 seconds depending on what type of plane it is.
The area before a running engine was described as an ingestion zone and measures 15 feet for all aircrafts. The report says that the zone is only safe when the space between individual fan blades can be seen clearly.
Edwards was in the ingestion zone, causing her death, said a statement by the NTSB following the accident.
The preliminary report by the NTSB can be seen here.
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