Air India employee dies after being sucked into plane engine

[Hatu]

(CNN)An engineer at Mumbai airport died after being sucked into the engine of an Air India plane, the company said.

The deadly incident happened late Wednesday as the Airbus A319 was being towed backward from the parking bay in preparation for taxiing out, said Anil Mehta, an Air India official.



The engineer, Ravi Subramanian, was standing near the landing gear under the plane's nose as he supervised the process, Mehta told CNN.

http://www.cnn.com/2015/12/17/asia/air-india-engineer-sucked-into-plane-engine/index.html

 

[Kev3188]

Be safe out there, everyone...

 

[delldude]

Read it was a 319 and they have airworthy APU's...isn't that a no go item?

 

[Kev3188]

We can MEL ours and just do an air start before each leg. If that was what was happening, and he was by the nose, that's not enough power to suck him in. Even if he "stayed with them" on the headset for a cross bleed, I can't see it. Maybe AI incorporates powering them up as part of the procedure? I dunno...

 

[delldude]

Do  AI operate under FAA like we do here?

 

[Kev3188]

Point taken. I would be curious to know what they were doing at the time of the accident- I've seen "normal pushback" (my term), and air start both.

 

[delldude]

I've been there when starting off a live engine and it spools to idle pretty quick. I think quicker than an APU.
 
That guy was done before he realized what was going on.
 
Some questioned why they were at that high a setting at pushback.
 
"You don't understand jet engines at Idle then." 
 
The safety zone isn't to be respected when they are on take off roll.

 

[Kev3188]

That guy was done before he realized what was going on.

I sure hope so...

More info here:

http://avherald.com/h?article=490e9d05&opt=5120

 

[Glenn Quagmire]

I have done many crossbleed starts myself and have done them as part of the pushback crew on the 319/320.

We would always start one engine at the gate using airstart cart, then pushback. After getting safely away from the gate I would then bring up the N1 of the operating engine and start the other. We would never operate an engine at the gate u dear power high enough to perform a crossbleed start.

The A-319 is a very dangerous aircraft, especially if you are interchanging at the same gate with the 320. The distance between cargo door, nose gear, and #2 engine is slim.