Propeller Girl

[Josh]

The pilot is responsible for stopping the engine before the passenger exits. In this case it is by pulling the mixture knob back and starving the engine of fuel. Standard procedure for a normally aspirated engine.

That sheds some light on the situation.

What I don't understand is why the pilots insurance company paid out more for the sublimit of $100,000 (which was reported in the news) for Bodily Injury per passenger. Did the insurance company just set a precedent?? I wonder if other accidents where a passenger gets injured would the insurance companies now have to pay more for injuries due to this case of ignoring the sublimit?

I think the problem for them was arguing that she was no longer a passenger was going to potentially be an expensive debate they may or may not win. I don't think it's going to start a wave of women walking into plane propellers.

I really do feel bad for the girl; I would hate to lose a hand or an eye, regardless of the settlement amount.

 

[rlubnau]

That sheds some light on the situation.



I think the problem for them was arguing that she was no longer a passenger was going to potentially be an expensive debate they may or may not win. I don't think it's going to start a wave of women walking into plane propellers.

I really do feel bad for the girl; I would hate to lose a hand or an eye, regardless of the settlement amount.

I agree, it is horrible, but unfortunately in the aviation world this is a common occurence. It seems that a number of these accidents happen during a year, and it almost always is caused by the pilot not shutting down the engine before a person gets out of the plane.

 

[stormtracker]

The pilot is responsible for stopping the engine before the passenger exits. In this case it is by pulling the mixture knob back and starving the engine of fuel. Standard procedure for a normally aspirated engine. After prop stops turn the mags to an off position to avoid a hot start. The pilot did not do this and allowed a passenger to walk into a moving prop. A prop that was probably spinning at 800 to 1000 RPM and cannot be seen - even if the tips are painted red. If the pilot had electrical issues and didn't want to shut the engine down due to not being able to restart, that is conditions for even more negligent behavior.

This is standard procedure for piston engines, however, the shutdown procedure is quite different for turboprop engines. When shut off, it may take 5 minutes for the prop to spool down. There are mitigating circumstances, where total stoppage of that boarding side prop is not possible. In that case, the chain of command shifts totally to the ground crew once the aircraft is parked and chocked.