23-year-old fashion model severely injured: walks into propellor

[Paradon]

That's just horrible! A nice young girl like that, getting hurt and so close to Christmas.

 

[Pingfah]

Oh yeah, having your hand chopped off is much worse at Christmas. I just thank god it wasn't her birthday.

 

[Kestra]

Oh yeah, having your hand chopped off is much worse at Christmas. I just thank god it wasn't her birthday.

Don't let yourself be drawn in, Pingfah!

 

[Lindley]

you know what they could do... have a beeping go off while the props are in motion.. kind of like how forklift trucks in warehouses make a beeping noise whenever they go into reverse.

You know what's a really good indication that a prop might be in motion? It's really loud.

 

[Flying Spaghetti Monster]

Well I don't know, but say the plane's motor was on but the prop wasn't.. the noise might sounds similar to when the prop is spinning as well.

I don't know however.

 

[Lindley]

Well I don't know, but say the plane's motor was on but the prop wasn't.. the noise might sounds similar to when the prop is spinning as well.

I don't know however.

Small planes don't work that way. The only reason for the engine to be on is to spin the propeller. The engine has no function independent of that.

You can turn on the avionics without the engine, but that doesn't hurt anyone.

 

[Miss Chicken]

Would a thunderstorm (like in Jack Newton's case) be loud enough to drown out the sound of a propellor? Surely,even in a storm,he should have heard it if he was close enough to walk into it.

 

[Lindley]

Would a thunderstorm (like in Jack Newton's case) be loud enough to drown out the sound of a propellor? Surely,even in a storm,he should have heard it if he was close enough to walk into it.

No, it's pretty much impossible to drown out the sound of an airplane engine when you're standing right next to it. (EDIT: Except for the prototype electric planes, I suppose. Not many of those yet though.)

It is possible to be absent-minded, though. Therefore, I feel the pilot made a grievous error in leaving the engine running when there are people nearby outside the aircraft who may be unfamiliar with flightline operations.

 

[Trekker4747]

Then again, he may not have expected people to go walking towards the front of the plane into the loud, spinning blade of death.

 

[Trekker4747]

here is what the road ahead looks like for her.

Who was that article written for? Oh, if she loses an eye it'll be harder to see? Oh, there's not a Six Million Dollar Man type of prosthetic hand out there so she'll be out fitted with a pincher to serve for the main purpose of a hand? And if that was her dominant hand she'll have to re-learn to write? Gee.

 

[Miss Chicken]

I have just read Jack Newton's account on what happned to him

The guy who owned the plane was a good friend of mine. He had a great little six-seater plane. That day we decided to go down to Sydney to watch a game. It was at the Cricket Ground.

We flew down, had lunch, watched the game and had a couple of beers -- only a couple of beers, not too many. We called a cab, but we couldn't all get in. So four left and two of us called another cab, but we couldn't get one right away. It was raining, and the cab drivers don't like going to the Cricket Ground. Eventually we got a lift from the wife of a friend. We were getting a bit desperate. The others had been gone about 45 minutes. So she drove us to the airport. Because the plane was small, it was parked next to the fence and the road we drove in on. You could walk through, get into the plane, and away you went.
The other guy with me got out of the car to see what was going on. The lady driving us asked me about doing a corporate golf day. So we talked about that for a couple of minutes. Then my mate came back and told us they were ready to go. I talked to the lady for maybe five more minutes and got out of the car. As it turned out, one of the blokes in the plane was in a hurry. They had waited for us for a while. So, by the time I got out of the car and walked through the gate, the engine was running. And the plane was just starting to move off as I got to the edge of the tarmac.

By that time it was dark, and it was still raining. I tried to attract the pilot's attention, or someone's attention. But he didn't see me and basically ran over me. That was that.

I've heard a lot of people say I was [drunk] at the time, but that is crap. The legal stuff went on for ages. But now, significantly, you can't walk in the way I did. There's a barbed-wire fence there. That tells you everything. But it's hard to take on the government in court

SOURCE

I didn't realise that the plane was moving in Newton's case. But as it happened 28 years ago my memories of the case were rather scetchy.

 

[Lindley]

Then again, he may not have expected people to go walking towards the front of the plane into the loud, spinning blade of death.

Piloting isn't about what you expect. It's about being ready for what you don't expect. And that applies even with the wheels on the ground.