A subsidiary of American Airlines has received a hefty fine following the death of a ground crew worker who was ingested into a plane’s engine in Alabama.
The Occupational Health and Safety Administration’s $15,000 fine against Piedmont Airlines comes as investigators say it was to blame for a safety breach, the New York Post reported Friday.
The breach led to the death of a mother identified as Courtney Edwards, the incident happening at Montgomery Regional Airport on December 31.
Leaders with the National Transportation Safety Board said the 34-year-old was “ingested into the engine” while on the ramp at the airport where an American Airlines flight was parked at the time.
An image shows the young mother who lost her life:
American Airlines fined $15K after mom of 3 was ‘violently’ sucked into plane’s engine on New Year’s Eve https://t.co/zOkYbWZv6P pic.twitter.com/jNkWsy6mM9
— New York Post (@nypost) June 17, 2023
The airport’s ground crew apparently held two safety briefings minutes prior to the plane’s arrival at the gate, and workers were instructed not to go near it until the engine was cut off and a light beacon was switched into the off position.
When the plane arrived, the pilot was informed the front cargo door was being opened in the moments he was working to close down one of the aircraft’s engines.
Surveillance footage reportedly recorded the moment Edwards walked toward the back of the aircraft.
Moments later, the woman reportedly disappeared and the tragic incident happened not long afterwards.
“You have people coming to the belly of that plane perhaps to unload cargo, fuel the airplane,” aviation expert Joseph Swieterman told News Nation in January:
“Their equipment, their body is near the intake of those engines. And so when a judgment call is made, things are safe and you have an active engine, you have tremendous amounts of thrust that could ingest a worker,” he added.
Meanwhile, the National Transportation Safety Board largely blamed the woman by saying she was killed when she moved too close to the engine, the Daily Mail reported Saturday.
Video footage shows emergency crews at the airport following the incident, per WSFA:
In a statement at the time, the Montgomery Regional Airport said, “Our thoughts and prayers are with the family of the deceased.”
Meanwhile, American Airlines noted it was devastated by the accident, adding, “We are focused on ensuring that all involved have the support they need during this difficult time.”
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