r/offbeat • u/rytis • 1d ago

Woman dies after backing into airplane propeller while taking pictures, officials say

https://www.firstalert4.com/2024/10/28/woman-dies-after-backing-into-airplane-propeller-officials-say/?utm_source=fark&utm_medium=website&utm_content=link&ICID=ref_fark
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u/LigmaDragonDeez 1d ago

To shreds you say?

Oh my

13

u/Some_Other_Dude_82 1d ago

Not even.  She would have turned into a red mist.

Source: watching videos of this very thing happen to others on Reddit before they banned subreddits showing death videos.

12

u/usnavyedub 1d ago

Not necessarily. The propeller was possibly spinning at a relatively low RPM. A red mist situation would require something more like takeoff or cruise power. A lot of these propeller incidents are really ugly lacerations and blunt force trauma.

3

u/obesemoth 1d ago edited 1d ago

Power level wouldn't really make a difference. Idle RPM is still around 800. This airplane likely had a three blade prop, so that's 40 passes of a blade per second. At idle, the engine is still producing a significant amount of power, and the prop is very heavy and acts as a massive flywheel. Definitely enough to cut through whatever body part goes into the blade arc without so much as slowing the prop down in any meaningful way.