American Airlines fined $15,000 after mother of three, Courtney Edwards died when she was sucked into plane engine, despite NTSB blaming HER for getting too close.
Now six months after, an American Airlines subsidiary is facing a $15,000 fine after an airline worker died on new year’s eve (31 December), after she was so violently ‘ingested’ into the engine of a landed plane it shook the entire aircraft, at Montgomery Regional Airport in Alabama. The victim was later identified as 34-year-old Courtney Edwards, who worked as a ground agent for Piedmont Airlines, which is a subsidiary of American Airlines.
The National Transport Safety Board largely blamed Edwards, stating she was killed after getting too close to the engine of an American Eagle-operated Embraer E175 jet.
An Occupational Safety and Hazard Association report is fining Piedmont, where Edwards worked, an initial penalty of $15,625, the maximum under the law, a few months after the incident, claiming that the airline did not furnish ‘a place of employment which were free from recognized hazards that were causing or likely to cause death or serious physical harm to employees that were exposed to ingestion and jet blast hazards.’
The initial report, however, notes that Edwards failed to heed multiple warnings to stay back from the engines while the plane was shutting down. It’s not clear when the full and final report will be published.
The 59 passengers on board the flight from Dallas and four crew members were not injured. The report says there is video that shows Edwards walking in front of the first engine on the left of the plane. It reads: ‘She was subsequently pulled off her feet and into the operating engine.’ One of Edwards’ colleagues told investigators he saw her ‘almost fall over from the engine’s exhaust while he attempted to alert her to stay back and wait for the engines to be shut down’.
Edwards is survived by her three children and her mother, according to a GoFundMe page that has been set up to help her family financially. The GoFundMe page was set up for Edwards by local union rep, Donielle Prophete. On the fundraising page, Prophete wrote: ‘Please know that this tragedy has and will affect her mother, family, friends and kids for years to come.’ At the time or writing, the campaign has raised close to $120,000.
