Quote:
Originally Posted by Ksyrup
Hey Pilotman, how does something like this happen? An article I read said the plane was parked at the gate with the parking brake set when it happened. Does that suggest the worker's error in getting too close or going somewhere he shouldn't have before the engines were cut (or after they were started)? Man, that's awful.
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Yeah, that's likely what happened. I don't know if the plane had just taxied in and parked, but that's the most likely place for it to happen. Generally, once the parking brake is set, the engines are cut off, as long as the plane has a working APU (Aux Power Unit). If it doesn't then the plane leaves an engine running until the ground power can be plugged in. If both the ground power and the APU are broken then you can leave an engine running, but it means multiple extra safety layers are put in place as a result.
Visually, the airplane leaves the beacon (the red flasher at the top and bottom) on to signal either an engine is running or about to be run and it's a signal to the ramp to not approach the plane. But things happen, and signals get missed, and people have expectations bias for what they expect to happen and then accidents happen.
The main tires are also chocked to prevent the plane from moving on the ground as well, so if someone approached the plane and assumed something that didn't happen they could have, but even then, you approach from behind the wing.
The engines, at idle, have a 6 ft danger zone in front where people can be sucked in just walking past. So it's no shit scary if they are running. I can't imagine how bad this was. It was complete and total chaos and fear I'm sure.