AA ramp supervisor died from fall at MIA

[FA Mikey]

MIAMI - An American Airlines ramp supervisor was killed at Miami International Airport when he fell to the tamarac while helping to load a plane headed to Brazil late Monday night, according to officials and media reports.

The man was helping to load luggage on the Boeing 777, as heavy rain fell, when he slipped, airport workers told WSFL-TV.

Initially, Miami-Dade paramedics received a call at 11:39 p.m. reporting a "slip and fall" at Terminal E, at 4200 N.W. 21st Street, an agency shift commander said this morning.

Passengers aboard Flight 995 to Sao Paulo were kept aboard and interviewed, then the flight was cancelled.


sun sentinal story


miami herald story


They were all working in pouring rain and very strong winds. We received about 4 inches of rain over a couple of hours last night.

 

[AA767JET]

First of all that is terrible news but why is a supervisor doing a union job??
If a supervisor would start help loading a plane in JFK back in the day the whole crew would walk, period...

 

[FA Mikey]

Thats what the newspaper say. They may have assumed that what he was doing on the A/C.

 

[1AA]

I am sure AA will put a spin on this and say he should have not been loading bags because he was not properly trained. Also AA is very anal about wearing safety vests while on the ramp. If he was not wearing his safety vest he might be at total fault for his own accidental death. Sad but after working for AA a long time AA will try to minimize or shift blame to the employee to get out of being liable in some way or another. Even though I do not know the details of this incident just sit back and wait to see what will be uncovered in the investigation.

My heartfelt sympathy goes to my fellow employee and his family.

WORK SAFE AT ALL TIMES!!
Your life may depend on it.

 

[Mrs Doubtfire]

First of all that is terrible news but why is a supervisor doing a union job??
If a supervisor would start help loading a plane in JFK back in the day the whole crew would walk, period...

Does it really matter why a supervisor was doing a union job at this point? A young man has died. May God shine his comfort and warmth upon this mans family, loved ones, and friends and be with them at this most difficult time.

Y'all be careful out there, this could have happened to anyone.

 

[Barfbag]

The transportation sector is the second most dangerous place to work, construction being the first. Still, even in construction, work stops when the rain begins.

On the ramp, the Ramp Gladiators fight time, by offloading and loading bags, freight and mail as quickly as possible. Sometimes corners are cut, all to make the flight times.

No one wants a delay.

Loss, broken limbs and yes even loss of life are more acceptable these days.

In snow, rain, and ice they work, not even the US Post Office delivers anymore, when the weather gets foul.

It's dirty, sweaty, back-breaking and no rewards work, and did I mention dangerous work.

This is no place for the cubicle culture.

 

[Hopeful]

First of all that is terrible news but why is a supervisor doing a union job??
If a supervisor would start help loading a plane in JFK back in the day the whole crew would walk, period...

Does it really matter why a supervisor was doing a union job at this point? A young man has died. May God shine his comfort and warmth upon this mans family, loved ones, and friends and be with them at this most difficult time.

Y'all be careful out there, this could have happened to anyone.

First of all, condolences to his family. Horrible way to die.

As for the semantics of doing a union job, here's my take. When you have workers who do that job day and day out, they are more aware of their surroundings and the dangers of working on heightened equipment. He may not have been working at all. I have received many a call from a line cargo CSM concerning damage or broken cargo locks and the CSM was already up there. equipment problems or even damage may have been the reason he was legitimately up there.

 

[JFK Fleet Service]

If a supervisor would start help loading a plane in JFK back in the day the whole crew would walk, period...

Please.I can't tell you how many times I've seen Dave Richards up in the belly of the LOT 767 pushing pallets with the crew and crew chief.

My condolences to the man's family,it's a shame when a life is cut so short for no good reason.

 

[AA32]

AA767JET way to be a jerk - this is not the time or place to politicize a terrible situation. Our thoughts and prayers go to his family

 

[upsilon]

On another BB, an AA employee reported "it was actually a CSM who went out to help load bags".

 

[FA Mikey]

An Update to the original article in the Miami Herald:

An American Airlines employee fell to his death in the predawn hours Tuesday while working on a lift at Miami International Airport.

Thomas Jukovich, a 43-year-old customer service manager, was working outside on a lift at Gate E-10, according to airport officials.

Hard rain and thunder persisted throughout the night as he worked outside. Airport employees said the Hallandale Beach man supervised several gates, including one that was assigned to American Airlines Flight 995.

The red-eye flight to Sao Paolo, Brazil, was to leave at 11:30 p.m., but it was delayed. The plane was still on the rain drenched tarmac two hours later when the manager jumped onto a baggage loader, employees said.

For yet-unknown reasons, about 1:50 a.m. Jukovich fell from the lift, which can go as high as 25 to 30 feet. He suffered fatal injuries, according to Miami-Dade fire rescue spokesman Lt. Eddy Ballester.

 

[Hopeful]

I wonder when was the last time one of our priceless executives had to work in conditions like our people work in year around?
Or when was the last time they had to be concerned about possibly getting hurt or even getting killed on the ramp?
Or being overly cautious and stressed that if they get hurt, they only get 10 days IOD and then have to worry about feeding their families and paying the bills should they get seriously injured?

Let's give em more concessions because the executives say we need to cut costs further....

 

[signals]

WOW we're getting all these safety risk lectures in my sector which may have nothing to do with airlines...or :huh:

A cartoon poster at a previous job had a construction worker in heaven talking to another angel and saying that "...for 20 years on the job he never had an accident, until one!"

That was what killed him.

Now there is something that comes to light about risk factors as related to the high risk jobs like police and firefighters. The jest-It isn't a High Risk High Frequency situation that kills you, but rather a High Risk Low Frequency situation that will kill you.

Can this apply? I hope it does and my prayers to the supervisor regardless of union situations.

 

[DFWFSC]

The crew had walked off the gate to go to lunch' in the meantime the capatin or whomever needed some paperwork that was attached to one of the cargo pallets that was already loaded on the plane. The CSM took it upon himself to climb the loader and try and find the paperwork himself.

 

[heckle and jyde]

we all know that management shouldn't be doing our jobs, BUT I am willing to say that this guy is also under a lot of preasure to get the plane out on time. When we rampers take a delay the most we may get is a question of why? And we all know that we have hundreds of reasons why it happened. But he will get his ass reamed for it with no union protection. this is a good reminder to work safe and a good reason to have the minimum amount of people on a loader, escpecially in bad weather and when it is dark out. Nobody wants to see someone hurt or killed.