NTSB report on Fatal Airport Accident Does Not Assign Blame

An airline worker was killed in a tragic incident at an Alabama airport on December 31st, according to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). The employee, a ramp agent for American Airlines commuter carrier American Eagle, was on the tarmac and had apparently set up a safety cone at the rear of the parked aircraft right before she was pulled into an engine and killed.

The NTSB’s preliminary report, released Monday, revealed that the ground crew had held a safety briefing about 10 minutes before the airplane arrived at the gate, and that the flight crew had elected to leave both engines running during the two-minute engine cool-down period. The crew discussed that the engine should not be approached, and multiple warnings were given to the employee about the dangers of being near running jet engines.

The NTSB report did not explicitly assign fault in the incident at Montgomery Regional Airport. However, the report noted examples of when workers were warned to stay clear of running jet engines when planes are stopped on the ground.

The NTSB is continuing to investigate the incident, and the agency has not yet released a final report. The NTSB has also not released the name of the employee who was killed in the incident. The agency has said that it will release more information as it becomes available.