According to a medical examiner, a worker at an airline was ingested into a plane’s engine on Friday night at the San Antonio International Airport. It was determined by an investigation that the worker committed suicide.
According to the National Transportation Safety Board, the Delta Air Lines A319 Airbus plane was an arrival from Los Angeles and taxiing to the gate when the worker was sucked into the plane’s engine.
The worker has been identified as David Renner, a 27-year-old resident of San Antonio.
The cause of his death is listed as blunt trauma and sharp forces, the Bexar County Medical Examiner’s Office confirmed.
Renner worked for Unifi, a company that offers ground handling operations at various U.S. airports, and has a contract with Delta in San Antonio.
A San Antonio International Airport spokesman expressed the company’s sadness over the incident.
The NTSB does not plan to investigate the death. There have been two fatal engine ingestion incidents in just under seven months. Courtney Edwards, a ground crew member, was pulled into a turbine engine in Montgomery, Alabama.
The victim’s employer, Piedmont Airlines, was given a fine of more than fifteen thousand dollars by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) last week for safety failures. The company exposed its workers to jet blast hazards.
The previous NTSB investigation found that the ground crew participated in safety briefings before the plane arrived at its gate.
According to the report, Edwards, a 34-year-old mother of three, approached the plane while the engines were still activated and a safety light was illuminated.
The co-pilot observed that a cargo door indicator light was illuminated and proceeded to open the cockpit window in an attempt to alert the ramp agents about the engines still being operational. The surveillance video captured a ramp worker attempting to signal Edwards to move away from the plane.
She was killed instantly.
