The US Air Accident Investigation Board NTSB has published a first interim report on the death of the Envoy Air employee who was "sucked" into an engine of N31NN on December 2022, 264.
On the day in question, this Embraer 175 was scheduled to fly from Montgomery Regional Airport to Dallas/Fort Worth with flight number AA3408. On board were 59 passengers and four crew members. A ramp worker was sucked into an engine of the regional jet and died as a result. Colleagues who immediately rushed to the man's aid, were unfortunately still able to determine his death. the Preparations for the start were immediately canceled because of the tragic accident.
No passengers or crew were injured in the accident that occurred on the apron. However, the ramp agent lost his life. Responsibility for the Embraer 175 lay with Piedmont Airlines, a subsidiary of the American Airlines Group. However, the operational implementation is carried out by the sister company Envoy Air.
According to the NTSB, the E175 had an inoperable auxiliary power unit (APU), requiring it to be operated on ground power upon arrival at the gate after the required two-minute engine cool-down period. When the plane arrived at the gate, three ramp agents were present and all three were outside the security perimeter.
When the captain shut down the second (right) engine, the Engine and Crew Alert System (EICAS) indicated that the forward cargo door had been opened even though the first engine was still operational. The first officer opened his cockpit window to inform the ramp agent, who opened the cargo door, that the left engine was still operational. The captain then informed the passengers that they had to remain seated until the seat belt sign had gone out. He then informed his co-pilot that they would shut down the first engine as soon as ground power was established.
In the report, the NTSB goes on to say that immediately after the captain announced his intentions, a warning light came on and the plane shook violently as the first engine shut down automatically. Video footage showed that the ramp agent that entered the aircraft's engine ran "along the leading edge of the left wing and just ahead of the number one engine" and was sucked in by the GE CF34 engine. The upper rotating beacon, indicating that the engine is operational or about to be operational, came on.
"Ground crew reported that a safety briefing was held approximately 10 minutes before the aircraft arrived at the gate. A second safety briefing was held just prior to the aircraft's arrival at the gate to reiterate that the engines would be running until ground power was restored," the report said. In addition, ground staff discussed not to approach the aircraft and not to set up the safety cones until the engines were shut down and shut down and the aircraft's all-round lights were extinguished by the flight crew. Nonetheless, apron workers reported to investigators that a apron worker was seen setting up the rear safety cone and that the person nearly fell off the exhaust. of the engine fell off.
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