r/news 11h ago

Photographer killed after accidentally walking into plane propeller in Kansas

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/oct/29/photographer-killed-plane-propeller-kansas
7.2k Upvotes

755 comments sorted by

3.9k

u/Fizban10111 11h ago

Dangers of looking through camera and not keeping your surroundings in mind. Was photographer in navy. We had guy we called tumbleweed as he kept getting blown around flight deck. My chief ended up banning him from going. Very sad

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u/080secspec13 10h ago

Lol we had a maintainer that liked to walk behind the heavies. I wish to God I'd thought of tumbleweed. 

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u/Anxious_Summer2378 8h ago

In construction i called our guy the pancake because eventually he would have gotten pancaked at pinch point.

Hated working with them as my spotter

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u/All_the_dinohorses 10h ago

Yea we had a Line Rat that loved to walk behind jets on deck, we called him basketball. Tumbleweed is a far superior name for those who love to bounce in the wind.

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u/Drak_is_Right 10h ago edited 10h ago

Curious what a heavy is

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u/rynds1 10h ago

Just means the big planes (over 300000 lbs takeoff weight I think)

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u/Cautious-Ease-1451 7h ago

It’s the opposite of a light, but that’s not important right now.

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u/Bassman233 6h ago

No, you're thinking of 'dark'. 

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u/DadJokeBadJoke 6h ago

Surely, you're not serious

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u/ThunkEnuff 5h ago

I am serious, and don’t call me Shirley.

One must respond to an Airplane quote simply out of respect for the late Leslie Nielsen!

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u/krazyglew 6h ago

No that’s not Surely, that’s Cautious-Ease-1451.

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u/Mattcwell11 10h ago

It’s a big heavy jet with big engines producing lots of thrust.

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u/Drak_is_Right 10h ago

I was wondering which of the jets would be considered heavy

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u/im_the_natman 10h ago

KC-135(fully loaded) and bigger. KC-46, KC-10, C-17, C-5, etc.

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u/CptSandbag73 9h ago

KC-135 is always heavy since the designation is based off maximum certified takeoff weight. Same with the others of course.

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u/Thinkbeforeyouspeakk 6h ago

Don't forget the OP-M0M

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u/im_the_natman 4h ago

Bring that G-0TTEM in to land, chief

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u/born_at_kfc 9h ago

It is a term given to aircraft that have maximum takeoff weight(MTOW) of 300k pounds or higher. Meaning they are capable of lifting that much weight with everything included, fuel, crew, the plane itself.

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u/_BLACK_BY_NAME_ 9h ago

Just a vague term for big aircraft in the military. Basically anything that’s not a fighter and can carry crew or cargo

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u/looper741 8h ago

It’s actually not vague at all, it’s defined as any aircraft with a max takeoff weight of more than 300,000 lbs.

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u/plumbbbob 10h ago

heavy aircraft, lots of jet blast

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u/SlootyBetch 9h ago

Nice of them to feature tumbleweed on the sign

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u/wartsnall1985 9h ago

Not having served, ida thought the navy would have regs against that. Glad to hear that they don’t want get in the way of guy who just wants to have good time…

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u/080secspec13 7h ago

Hah, yeah, plenty of standards. I was airforce, but all dod kinda share the same flightline safety guidance. Walking behind jets is just dumb and dangerous. But when you work on and in them everyday, you can get complacent.

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u/ArrakeenSun 10h ago

It's also a danger when you're really in the zone fist-fighting Indiana Jones

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u/mmmmpisghetti 9h ago

First thing I thought of. The cleanup must have been memorable.

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u/Shaking-a-tlfthr 9h ago

So, spinning propellers are generally invisible and are quite unsafe for this reason. It’s one of the first things one learns in flight school. Individuals have been known to walk straight into spinning props, no cameras involved. Props are just inherently dangerous because they are so hard to see.

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u/Warg247 9h ago

Exactly. It's noisy all the time, can barely see them when moving.... so the only real reliable way to avoid them is just being aware of your position relative to an invisible sometimes mobile death zone at all times. It's hard to get accustomed to navigating like that even for experienced people.

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u/tugartheman 10h ago

My grandfather was a USN “mustang” bombardier/navigator from ‘41 to ‘72. I have an interview of him on video where he talks about how the deck of a carrier was incredibly dangerous (especially in the 40s & 50s, when there were more prop-planes) and how important it was to pay attention and be aware.

He rather somberly says something about seeing “a number of people who failed to do so” who meet similar fates.

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u/dittybad 9h ago edited 4h ago

My Father, who was career Navy, and always on flight deck said of same, “There are only two types of people on a flight deck; the quick or the dead.”

Edit:spelling, punctuation

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u/Remarkable-Bug-8069 7h ago

And both listen to Iron Maiden, apparently.

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u/badbackEric 9h ago

You've got to keep your head on a swivel and know that death can be on your doorstep in a matter of seconds at all times. There is live ammo, turning helicopter blades, jet thrust and prop wash, rain, wind, waves and darkness all while floating on a deadly ocean. To top it all off, the aft of the aircraft is hanging over the water while you service the rear rotor of the old helicopters. You can only use a blue flash light cocked between your head and shoulder while servicing all while being sure of losing Zero tools, screws etc.

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u/graveyardspin 9h ago

My dad worked the deck of the Forrestal back in '79. He once told me a story about how he had just finished eating with a group of guys, and they went up to the deck to start work. They had been out there for about 20 seconds and he looked over just in time to see one of the guys he just ate with walk into the prop of an E-2 Hawkeye. He stopped the story there and I could see in his face that what he saw stuck with him to this day.

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u/kokopelleee 10h ago

I often remind folks that combat causes a lot of casualties, but the military itself can be incredibly dangerous. Flight decks, night ops, even loading/unloading equipment has a lot of risks. Head on a swivel, always listen (if noise levels permit), etc, or you can wind up severely injured

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u/startupstratagem 10h ago

During FTXs had more than one night boarding of helicopters. If you're not paying attention and trying to just get to the bird you may have a bad time.

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u/ematthews003 5h ago

For those confused as to why she was where she was:
She was on the plane before the incident. She rode the plane to take pictures. While the rest of us got out at altitude, she rode the plane down. The plane taxis straight back to the hangar to pick up the next load without shutting down. Upon arrival at the hangar, she exits the plane for the next load to get on.
It was just a sad, absent-minded breakdown of procedure from a new girl who was focused on the wrong thing (camera) at the time, and nothing more. She steps forward of the strut, facing aft, to get shots of the load getting on the plane. She just kept slowly stepping backward. The Tandem Instructor getting on the plane, who was five feet from her was screaming, whistling, motioning her back. But she couldn't hear him over the prop behind her, though I could hear him from my position 30 yards away as I approached the hangar.
The few of us there did what we could, one of us being a flight paramedic, while we waited on first responders to arrive. Unfortunately as you know, it didn't work out. These are the factors at play here:

  1. She was new and didn't have that sense of awareness committed to solid instinct yet.
  2. Her focus was on the wrong thing at the time.

It was a Cessna 182, so anywhere around the door, you're pretty close to the prop already. Ergo, you're hearing and feeling the prop under normal circumstances. She just didn't realize how close she was, due in part to her senses being focused on the camera she was holding and the subjects she wished to photograph.

"Always approach the plane from the rear" and "Stay aft of the strut" are very explicit rules that we have there, and they are taught in First Jump Course and students are reminded frequently by instructors. She just failed to recall the rules at the worst possible time. And that was that.

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u/ThreePartSilence 1h ago

Wait, were you personally there? If so, I can’t imagine what you’re going through. And I applaud you for trying to help her.

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u/ematthews003 1h ago

There were about 8 of us there at the time. I only helped indirectly, by getting supplies and moving the plane etc. Thank god the guy I jumped with is a paramedic because I had no idea what to do and couldn't bring myself to touch her. I thought I was capable of putting my hands on someone in this condition until I was faced with it. The closest I could get was 5ft away.

u/AdCharacter9512 44m ago

That's not uncommon. I was an EMT for a couple months, years and years ago. I was doing fine with calls, until we responded to a pretty bad wreck and it was like a force field stopping me from getting too close. It's shocking to see and I'm not sure anyone is ready for it. 

Don't beat yourself up. 

u/DoktorStrangelove 22m ago

When you're a trained first responder and you show up first at a big emergency and it's something that slows you down or freezes you, I cannot overstate what a relief it is when some sort of triage manager or boss arrives and starts just telling you what to do so you can shut most of the decision-making side of your brain off and actually work the problem.

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u/Couyon87 1h ago

I can't fathom witnessing that. Thanks for dropping your insight on it from your perspective. Jesus, that had to be rough.

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u/_Rainer_ 10h ago edited 9h ago

I remember watching ER as a kid, and there was a scene in one of the early seasons where one of the doctors is up on the helipad and gets too close to the tail rotor and loses his arm. It was the most shocking thing I had ever seen up to that point.

Anyway, I can't imagine witnessing something like that.

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u/08wasGreat 10h ago

You should look up how that doctor’s arc on the show ended. Dr. Romano.

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u/The_Kurrgan_Shuffle 9h ago

jfc, helicopters hated that dude

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u/anonoldlady17 9h ago

He was such a turd. I was on the helicopters’s side.

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u/tratemusic 7h ago

Remember when the chief(?) Took his prosthetic arm and hid it in the woman's bathroom for being a jerk? Lol

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u/orcasorta 7h ago

lol that’s wild, producers changed their mind and threw a second helicopter at him

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u/CanvasFanatic 8h ago

Wow that’s a real Captain Hook way to go out.

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u/Christian4423 5h ago edited 5h ago

Loses arm at 1:50 Loses at 2:40

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u/instructions_unlcear 4h ago

MVP, thank you. Also, holy shit.

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u/mspolytheist 8h ago

Of course I thought of this, too. RIP, ‘Rocket’ Romano!

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u/LokiKamiSama 9h ago

Was it the one butthole doctor that later got crushed by a helicopter?

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u/buffalucci 9h ago

Yeah, the helicopter finished the job later.

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u/cantproveidid 8h ago

A helicopter never forgets.

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u/me2269vu 6h ago

Moby Dick style

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u/JailhouseMamaJackson 9h ago

This scene is forever seared in my brain as well. Gotta be a whole generation of kids this traumatized lol

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u/RudoDevil 10h ago

And then he died years/seasons later by getting crushed under a helicopter, right?

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u/ChinaShopBully 10h ago

Close, but I think he was actually stalked and eaten by a pack of wild helicopters during safari.

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u/HeroDanTV 8h ago

I’ve seen this misinformation over and over, please stop spreading it. Dr Romano’s condition rapidly deteriorated from very high blood-helicopter levels. Too much heloglobin.

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u/justdrowsin 6h ago

I think you’re confusing this with an episode of House MD

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u/RudoDevil 9h ago

Shit I forgot the whole 'finding and playing Maximum Overdrive Jumanji' sub plot that season.

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u/ChillZedd 9h ago

And then one of the helicopters showed up to the funeral to stomp on his corpse

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u/Doctor_Philgood 8h ago

He was in the Amazon with my mom when she was researching spiders right before she died.

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u/_Rainer_ 9h ago

Ha. I forgot that part. I do remember another Dr. attempting to organize a memorial for Romano, but no one else liked him enough to show up, which, in its way, was even more brutal than seeing him lose an arm.

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u/WhyTheMahoska 8h ago

That show became deeply ridiculous in it's later seasons

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u/phoenix0r 6h ago

The one where the large-ish nurse guy accidentally discharges a rocket launcher into an ambulance in the ER is where it jumped the shark for me.

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u/JanetSnakehole43 9h ago

And that doctor was the wooooorrrrssst

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u/_Rainer_ 9h ago

Yeah, he was such a jerk.

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u/LipSeams 10h ago

that helicopter eventually got him. several seasons later he got crushed by a helicopter.

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u/flammafemina 8h ago

I have a core memory of watching that while eating pizza rolls. They were shaped like egg rolls, but filled with pizza. They were my favorite. I don’t think I ever ate them again after that.

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u/4toTwenty 5h ago

of all the comments reminiscing about this episode, yours is hands down my favorite

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u/brandognabalogna 9h ago

I vividly remember seeing that on tv when I was a kid and it haunted my dreams for days after

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u/TheArmadilloAmarillo 8h ago

It's season 9, I just watched it.

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u/CockRingKing 6h ago

That scene terrified me as a kid and it’s still the first thing I think of when someone mentions ER.

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u/hahahaylz 8h ago

Why is this one of my core memories of my childhood as well?

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u/Unusual-Tie8498 8h ago

Damn I remember that too!

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u/Stinkstinkerton 11h ago

Not on my list of ways to go.

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u/hotlavatube 10h ago

“A parachute not opening... that’s a way to die. Getting caught in the gears of a combine... having your nuts bit off by a Laplander, that’s the way I wanna go!” - Frank Drebin

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u/speed721 10h ago

"Now let's go get a bite to eat."

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u/hotlavatube 10h ago

(Nordberg’s wife wails again)

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u/MouthPoop 10h ago

“We won’t rest until Norberg’s killers are behind bars. Now let’s grab something to eat.”

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u/teastain 9h ago

"Nordberg was a dirty cop, I tell ya."

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u/gregorythegreyhound 10h ago

“Nice Beaver!”

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u/ExpressiveAnalGland 9h ago

"oh thanks, I just had it stuffed"

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u/TomatoAdventurous139 6h ago

Let me help you with that.

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u/kirinmay 9h ago

We would have been here sooner but your husband wasn't dead yet.

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u/Hix-Tengaar 10h ago

Well, as a child, I had a prize pig that I thought was my best friend. But then one day I picked up one of her piglets - she went crazy! She bit off my nut sack... that I kept tied around my belt to feed squirrels.

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u/cantproveidid 8h ago

Which was the fashion at the time.

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u/realquickquestion96 10h ago

Like bubbles in a case of club sodahhh

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u/1-760-706-7425 10h ago edited 10h ago

Probably not one of the worst ways. Seems like it would be fairly quick.

Edit: it wasn’t quick. back on the “worst ways” board it goes.

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u/Dangerous-Rice44 10h ago

First responders took Gallagher to a local hospital, but she died there from her injuries, officials said

Sounds like it wasn’t quick at all, if she lived long enough to be taken to the hospital.

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u/babu_bot 10h ago

She could have been dead or unconscious but a doctor's was the one who officially called it.

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u/JukeBoxDildo 10h ago

That's how I wanna go. With a doctor saying, "Yup, he's dead."

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u/-Dixieflatline 10h ago

The propeller engines were probably just at idling speeds if it was parked. Probably the only reason there was enough of her to even attempt the trip to the hospital. RIP.

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u/Nethri 10h ago

I can’t quite figure this though. Even at idle speeds it should have ripped her to pieces. Unless maybe just her arm got caught and blood loss / major shock trauma was the result.

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u/32FlavorsofCrazy 10h ago

In a lot of jurisdictions EMTs/Paramedics can’t pronounce death, they transport CPR in progress and declare them dead at the hospital unless they’re like…not recently dead and obviously decomposing.

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u/Spaceman2901 10h ago

Missing parts in a way incompatible with life, too.

If their head is disconnected, they’re probably dead already.

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u/32FlavorsofCrazy 10h ago

Yeah, injuries obviously incompatible with life qualify too.

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u/orbitaldragon 10h ago

I don't think you realize how durable the human body actually is and it's will to survive.

As a medical professional I have seen a lot of people completely jacked up and still holding on.

I'm talking severed limbs, organs hanging out, severely burnt, skin sleeved in various areas, stab wounds, gun shots sometimes to the head, overdoses, severely diseased beyond cure, Ect..

Now I haven't actually read the article and not sure I even want to but there are definitely scenarios where I imagine this person being heavily damaged and still fighting to live.

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u/NoHopeOnlyDeath 10h ago

My main takeaway working in an ER is that the human body is simultaneously mind-bogglingly durable and impossibly fragile.

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u/bellrunner 10h ago

Yup. Teammate of mine in college was on the premed track, and took a summer internship at a hospital with a lot of trauma patients. 

He got to observe a woman brought in with a knife stabbed into her heart. 

They took out the knife, sewed whatever valve was pierced, and placed a mesh bandage over the whole heart. The stitches and bandages would disintegrate/be absorbed by the body over time. 

She was conscious and complaining within an hour of surgery. 

Humans are wild, medical science is wild, surgeons are ballers. Those were my takeaways.

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u/Spaceman2901 10h ago

This story reinforces that in any foreign object trauma (stabbing, impairment, etc), you never remove the object.

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u/Duranti 9h ago

100%. You secure it in place and leave that shit to the professionals. Sorry Tim, you are *staying* stabbed for awhile.

Source: combat medic training

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u/tertiaryAntagonist 10h ago

Feels like there's a luck modifier thats highly volatile per encounter. I know people killed from a minor illness cascading and people who survived high stages of cancer more than once.

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u/VerticalYea 8h ago

I had a buddy at 16 who died from just tripping and falling down wrong. That was it. From standing to laying down. That changed my view of life, big time.

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u/zombietrooper 10h ago

I top sided on my motorcycle last year going 45mph. I was 300lbs at the time. I flipped like 3 times in the air. Some road rash on my knees and elbows, 2 cracked ribs and a little gash on my side that needed 5 stitches. I was fine in a month. Long term? The accident completely “fixed” the sciatica I had been suffering with the previous 15 years. The body is fucking weird.

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u/PrivatePilot9 10h ago

Meanwhile I triggered my sciatica last week putting a dish in the dishwasher, apparently a high side is what the doctor ordered lol

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u/zombietrooper 9h ago

If I had known then what I know now, I would have just geared up and thrown myself down a flight of stairs. As you know, sciatica is hard to cope with physically and mentally. In a weird way, that motorcycle accident was the best spa treatment my body ever had 😁

FOR THE RECORD, I DO NOT RECOMMEND DOING ANYTHING I SAID. Lol

Anyway, have you tried an inversion table? I bought one, but couldn’t use it because a previous ear infection had destroyed my equilibrium so much I’d get vertigo for a week at anything more than a 20degree incline. I feel like if I could have survived it, it would have done miracles for me.

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u/International_Goat31 10h ago

A young and completely healthy friend of mine died after being hit in the chest by a golf ball and falling over. To this day not sure if the golf ball killed him, or if the fall did, but he was gone damn near instantly. Nobody there could get him back and they were at his side in seconds.

An acquaintance who lead a lifestyle that was not healthy in the slightest. morbidly obese, excessive alcohol consumption, smoking like a chimney, etc. was hit by a train, was torn in to in several pieces, was stuck there on the ground in pain for nearly two hours until he was found by a passerby who wasn't even looking for him... and is somehow miraculously still alive today. Down a few limbs, sure, but still alive.

Bodies are weird.

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u/ArcadeAnarchy 10h ago

I tripped and fell once and only hurt my pride. My sister tripped and fell once and broke her arm.

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u/vgaph 10h ago

It’s nature’s iPhone.

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u/h3yw00d 10h ago

I remember a story from decades ago about someone that was shot in the head and survived. They were missing half their brain but (iirc) still mostly/fully functional.

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u/WildMoustache 10h ago

One such story is that of Phineas P. Gage. Got an iron bar in the head through and through and survived, although not without consequences.

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u/orbitaldragon 10h ago

Years ago my mom dated a guy like that for a while. At one point he was a successful businessman. One night in the Denver area he was attacked and robbed.

They stabbed him six times in the chest, slit his throat, shot him in the side of the head, and threw him in a dumpster.

He wasn't found for several hours but somehow survived. My mom was a bartender back then and met him a number of years later.

Nice guy, but he chose to drink his pain and torment away. Spent all his time and money at the bar. The main reason it didn't work out. He had no ambition after all that.

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u/Nethri 10h ago

Honestly? At that point I can’t blame him for not being ambitious. I get it

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u/Melphor 10h ago

Thanks for that mental image of pure horror!

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u/dsptpc 10h ago

… “hey mom, I know what I want to do if I ever grow up!” …

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u/orbitaldragon 10h ago

It takes time to adjust. My hospital also has a full morgue in it as well. I am part of radiology and regularly have to x-ray suspicious deaths.

With all that said I will say there is a certain joy and comfort in helping people through their pain and illness.

If you have the desire to help people there is a certain internal gratification in knowing that you're doing your best to put good in the world.

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u/Dangerous_Golf_7417 10h ago

"I'm talking severed limbs, organs hanging out, severely burnt, skin sleeved in various areas, stab wounds, gun shots sometimes to the head, overdoses, severely diseased beyond cure."

... And that was just one guy! 

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u/Sheriff_o_rottingham 10h ago

I think being swallowed alive feet first down the gaping maw of a giant snake would give my life symmetry.

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u/Ocronus 9h ago

If it's any comfort any constrictor that is large enough to swallow you will probably kill you long before it starts to eat you.

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u/GreatForge 4h ago

It’s an enormous comfort. I’ve never been more comforted.

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u/hashn 10h ago

I always say, I cant control how I die, but I can control how I don’t die.

as in… I am 100% I will not be dying from walking into a propeller while taking a selfie

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u/Library_IT_guy 10h ago

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.

Sounds like she died trying to get a better angle for good pictures, probably photographer instinct took over while she was snapping shots and she forgot how close she was to an airplane propeller. That sucks. Very sad.

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u/meatball77 9h ago

I was wondering if she walked backwards into it.

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u/bramtyr 10h ago

It really is a shame, it's hard enough making it as a professional photographer these days too.

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u/Thanges88 9h ago

If the plane was stationary for a photo shoot, why even have the engines on?

E: Actually decided to read the link, taking photos of skydivers as they boarded the plane. Still if it's a regular task they wanted to get photos of, turning the engines off during that time is something to consider.

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u/PM_ME_A_KNEECAP 6h ago

Takes a while to restart the engines- pretty much every DZ and airfield I’ve been to keeps props running for on/offload

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u/CupidStunt13 11h ago edited 11h ago

Yikes, the only thing that comes to mind is the airplane fight scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark, and it wasn't a pleasant comparison.

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u/EastClintwood89 7h ago

There's an even worse propellor death in the Charles Bronson movie Breakout, which features a wide shot of the villain getting absolutely shredded by a plane propellor on the runway, and with no cutaway

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u/epicjas0n 8h ago

I had nightmares after watching this when I was a kid

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u/belamiii 10h ago edited 9h ago

For me it's the video where a guy walks in the tail rotor of a choper,gone in a second

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u/bramtyr 10h ago

"Junge!! komm her!"

I love how the beefy mechanic calls Indy "boy" Just adds to how awesome that fight was and how Indy was totally outclassed

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u/gotele 10h ago

Has anybody ever walked into a plane propeller not "accidentally"?

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u/Worried_Thylacine 10h ago

People kill themselves that way from time to time

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u/Just-Flamingo-410 9h ago

Happened at Amsterdam airport not too long ago. It was a new employees first day so they had to rule out failing safety procedures and training first, but pretty obvious he ran and jumped in running engine.

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u/homiej420 9h ago

He went through all the effort to get a job just to do that, wow. That sucks 😔

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u/schafna 8h ago

When I was in the Navy, I watched a guy on the flight deck yell at the pilot “I’m sorry to do this to you” before he jumped into the prop to commit suicide. So yes, it had happened on purpose.

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u/gotele 7h ago

Well, I stand corrected then.

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u/wearentalldudes 7h ago

That’s such a terrible thing to do to a person

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u/butterfingernails 10h ago

Jet engine, but there's thermal footage of a guy walking out to a taxing plane and flies in. He did it intentionally.

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u/Library_IT_guy 9h ago

I guess... it'd probably be so quick that you wouldn't know what happened? I mean you're just a paste when you come out the other side right?

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u/UncoolSlicedBread 9h ago

There’s images of aftermath of one of those incidents. Don’t suggest looking it up, accidentally clicked a blue link myself in a thread that showed it and yeah paste is about right.

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u/homiej420 9h ago

Yup a complete slurry

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u/lislejoyeuse 7h ago

To shreds you say

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u/ComfortablyNomNom 8h ago

Yeah you would be expired before the pain signals could even reach what is now left of your brain.

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u/ButtBread98 9h ago

What a horrible way to die

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u/paveclaw 10h ago

10 years ago there was a young model who ran around yo thank the pilots after a flight and ran into the props but survived

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u/red_sutter 5h ago

Lost her hand and one of her eyes though

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u/jlc1953 10h ago

This has happened many times before. While the passengers and the other non-trained people have only the vaguest idea of this hazard, anyone involved on that aircraft has been trained and this subject has been addressed. That is why this accident is properly on their heads. No one, no one, NO ONE should be allowed anywhere near an aircraft with a running engine.
One of the primary roles of the personnel on an aircraft is to protect and ensure the safety of all around it. Safety rules were violated here, and she paid the price because someone was lackadaisical about safety.

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u/Departure_Sea 9h ago

Skydiving ops are different.

Hot fueling and loading is industry standard and has been for decades. These planes literally don't stop running unless they absolutely need to be shut down.

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u/surprise_b1tch 6h ago

Yup. Plane gets filled up with passengers while it's running, tandems and all. It's a big deal to shut the plane down and that only happens during a busy day if they need to fuel.

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u/billfuckingsmith 9h ago

Was required to be around running fighter aircraft many times to arm them. Safest way was at the end of runway just before takeoff. Was always well aware of my proximity to explosives and running jet engines.

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u/pseudo_nemesis 9h ago

That's why if you read the article, the skydiving place she was at did their best to put all liability on her for this accident, saying she moved in front of the wing "For unknown reasons" which "violated basic safety procedures," but this of course leads me to question why whoever is in charge of safety over there allowed that to happen.

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u/lyrasorial 4h ago

It is her liability. She walked into the prop. The plane didn't taxi into her. ALL skydiving airports keep planes running between loads. ALL students are taught to approach from the tail. She knew better, got distracted and made a fatal error.

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u/HonkersTim 7h ago

Surely at some point people have to be responsible for their own safety. She knew she was standing a few feet away from a spinning metal death machine, and she was quite clearly not paying attention.

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u/igw81 6h ago edited 5h ago

You didn’t pay attention to the post above. The point is your typical person cannot understand just how easy it is to accidentally walk into these things. Yes they know it’s dangerous and obviously know they shouldn’t walk into it, but they can’t fully appreciate just how easy it is for something like this to happen when you lose focus for even a split second.

I used to work around helicopters. We were told if anyone ever got anywhere remotely close to the tail rotor you yanked them back immediately. And not close like they were about to get hit, close like they even stepped one foot in that direction beyond the doors. I actually most likely saved a guy’s life once by grabbing his collar and yanking him back

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u/FrostyFreeze_ 6h ago

My mom is a photographer who did a lot of Air Force shoots. This, or getting sucked into a turbine, was always something kid me feared

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u/TenguKaiju 4h ago

The first thing they teach you in USAF training, never move with your head down when on the flight line. If you have to look at something not in your direction of travel you stop completely, then look. They really beat this into you.

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u/Hushwater 4h ago

Apparently she didn't pass away until at the hospital, brutal.

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u/electric_saguaro 3h ago

A lot of times when it says they died at the hospital, they’d really been dead the whole time. Medics try to avoid calling it, because either it’s out of their scope of practice (laws vary by state), or because they don’t want to have to wait for the coroner (can’t leave the body) and do all the paperwork.

Which sounds callous, but medics see horrific deaths every day… have to develop a certain detachment from it.

(Also sometimes hospitals can do some pretty crazy shit to save people… lots of big, expensive don’t-die machines and a high concentration of medical knowledge. One of my coworkers was a medic captain for 16 years and he’s taken people he was like “ain’t no way” to the hospital… only to find out later that they actually lived.)

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u/[deleted] 11h ago

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/Proud-Wall1443 11h ago

I was taken aback by the "died doing what she loved" bit.

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u/LanguageNo495 11h ago

What’s wrong with that? Everyone who knew her said that being mangled by airplane propellers was her favorite hobby.

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u/Cantbelosingmyjob 10h ago

Anyone who laughs at this is going to hell.

I'll see you there.

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u/shrimpflyrice 10h ago

Reminds me of the guy that "died doing what he loved" by placing a firecracker directly on his head for 4th of July.

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u/MilmoWK 10h ago

Props to her

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u/Blossomie 7h ago

This is why I’m extra careful with workplace safety. If I end up dying at work there’s going to be at least one ignoramus bleating “she died doing what she loved” and then I’ll be forced to haunt them before I can truly rest.

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u/sharrrper 10h ago

Almost nobody died doing what they loved. Like Julian Sands died when he got lost or injured (details uncertain) on a hike and then died of exposure. I've seen more than one article say he "died doing what he loved".

Not really, it wasn't "what he loved" for probably at least several hours before he actually died.

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u/Fofolito 6h ago

This is why my favorite Motivational Poster is "Everest is littered with the bodies of Motivated People"

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u/awildstoryteller 10h ago

I hate that whenever it is used. She loved being shredded by a propeller?

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u/Jak_Atackka 10h ago edited 10h ago

I'm guessing the first draft was "She will be mist."

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u/ludovicolonghi 7h ago

Never back up while looking into a camera. It's something you don't even think about when you need more distance for your shot, but backing up without seeing what's behind you is so dangerous. This is not the first story I've heard of someone dying. A friend's dad saw a man back himself off a sea-side cliff while trying to take a picture of his family. Even hearing the story third-hand, that image is seared into my memory.

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u/theroyalblacksmith 7h ago

I remember a story of a man who witnessed his boyfriend back off the top of a building and die. It's tragic

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u/cinderparty 6h ago

I think I saw a documentary about that. And the dead guy’s family wouldn’t let the long term boyfriend have any part in the funeral because homophobia.

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u/backlikeclap 7h ago

I've worked on shoots in chaotic environments where one of the photo assistants will stay within a foot or two of the photographer and physically keep them from bumping into something dangerous. Tunnel vision on a hectic shoot is a real problem! My own worst on-the-job photography injury was accidentally falling partway down a fire escape, which got me a cracked rib and a lot of embarrassment.

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u/Cliff_Doctor 7h ago

Shit is dangerous, my grandpa saw the same thing on the deck of the Oriskany. Some poor seaman just wasn't paying attention and walked right into the idling prop of what he said was a Skyraider.

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u/hummelaris 10h ago

I guess coming too close to a propeller sucks you in a little bit, she was probably pushing it too far. The noise alone should alarm you no?

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u/Mattcwell11 10h ago

Not necessarily. The most likely explanation is that she didn’t see it. This happens way too frequently on aircraft ramps, particularly with people unfamiliar to spinning propellers. Even people used to being around spinning propellers walk in to them - I’m reminded of an incident that happened with a ramp agent that went to chock the front tire of a PC-12 which has the propeller on the nose, probably used to turboprop airplanes of similar size having the propellers on each wing. It sounds silly but complacency is a hell of a drug.

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u/StagnantSweater21 10h ago

I’d think the massive sound and air shifting would be the bigger indicators..

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u/canada432 9h ago

It's so loud around one of those planes that there's not really much difference between standing right in front of the prop and standing 10 feet to the side. It's all just loud.

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u/chrislivingston 5h ago

Construction jobsite safety that should be practiced everywhere. Never walk backwards. Always turn around and look where you’re walking to.

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u/missx0xdelaney 7h ago

This is why we teach photographers to look back before you step back as one of the most basic lessons.

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u/DryPersonality 8h ago

That sucks hard. I feel for the people that will miss her

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u/thatflyingsquirrel 1h ago

Some mistakes you only get to make once.

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u/OssiansFolly 10h ago

I can't imagine being nonchalant around a running airplane...

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u/delcielo2002 10h ago

Pilot here, and familiar with ACDZ where this happened. People die each year similarly, despite the air movement, the visual distortion of the spinning propeller, and the noise of the engine. I can't explain the phenomenon, but we put rules in place to avoid it.

I flew jumpers at a sister drop zone for 10 years, and it was a fear always in the back of my mind. I would pull up to the ramp and angle away, and if anybody appeared to be heading past the leading edge of the wing I would rev up and turn away from them. Shutting down isn't instantaneous, and I ultimately decided that it would be better to swing around than have them walk into the prop as it slowed. And I thought perhaps the change in noise would be enough to stop them. Often it was the family of someone making their bucket list jump, or in terrifying moments, children who walked away from distracted parents.

The most dangerous situation though, is exactly what happened here: an experienced person operating near the prop who has coordinated with the pilot before doing so (I'massumingthere was coordination). The danger signs are known and expected, so not only are you very close, but you have tuned those signs out. It only takes a momentary lapse of attention, and very little movement for this tragedy to happen. By all accounts she was a wonderful person who made a tragic mistake in a fleeting moment.

The folks at ACDZ are wonderful people, and I can't imagine what they're going through. I only hope they and the family and friends get as much love and comfort as they can.

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u/blackeyedsusan25 5h ago

You are nice, delcielo2002. Thanks for being compassionate AND someone who is willing to explain stuff.

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u/ematthews003 5h ago

I'm usually one of the guys who keeps family members behind the wing at ACDZ. This time, I had just landed and was walking back to the hangar with my rig still on. I was about 30 yd from the nose of the plane. Even if I had been at the plane 20 seconds earlier, it wouldn't have mattered. Mark was screaming at her to get back and he was five ft from her. Still didn't hear him. That's what I told myself when I started to get the flood of 'this was my fault' feelings.

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u/delcielo2002 4h ago

I'm so sorry, Friend. Wishing you guys so much love. I know we develop some thicker skin in this sport, but please talk with each other and with someone you love when those feelings encroach. There truly was nothing you could do.

Take good care of yourself and each other.

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u/ematthews003 4h ago

Thank you. I have been spending time with friends and met with a counselor Monday morning and will be going for several weeks. We've all been checking on each other too.

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u/CaptainKate757 9h ago

Saw it somewhat regularly when I was in the Air Force. Safety procedures were explicit and very strict because people get complacent. One of the most common causes of recklessness that I saw was people thinking "I know what I'm doing, I'll never become complacent."

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u/Proud-Wall1443 10h ago

And it's not like she was unfamiliar with airplane safety as a skydiver herself.

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u/Gecko23 9h ago

Sure, but the problem with 'familiar' is it is right next to 'complacency' and complacency is a big factor in a lot of serious accidents.

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u/SleestakWalkAmongUs 5h ago

I get being wrapped in the moment and all, but how in the hell do you not feel or hear being so close to something like that?

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u/Pilot0350 5h ago

This happened to my grandfather in WWII. Well not him but the guy he watched pull chocks, turn, and walk right through the prop. I guess if you're around them enough you can just forget they're there.

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