NZFF

Not good news. Not much detail either. Apparently a Hercules engine was being run on the test stand without a prop and he was sucked into it.
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Wow when i read the heading i didnt think it would be so close to home , shocking

'The man had reportedly entered the testing enclosure while the engine was running. ' seen very sort off accident twice before , one SHOULD have know better fortunate only lost a finger , the other always know to be reckless lost his hand . Bloody hell , what a way to go !

Do the c-130 engines really suck enough to suck someone in without a prop on? I could understand with the propeller fitted but without one I wouldn't have imagined there would be that much airflow, certainly not enough to lift a person in. I could be entirely wrong of course

morrisman1 wrote:

QUOTE (morrisman1 @ Aug 8 2011,11:23 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Do the c-130 engines really suck enough to suck someone in without a prop on? I could understand with the propeller fitted but without one I wouldn't have imagined there would be that much airflow, certainly not enough to lift a person in. I could be entirely wrong of course

It is a turbine engine still, so id say yes it quite probably would fairly easily..

Poor bugger and what a grim job; dismantling the engine to recover the remains.

It's very sad, so close to home as well.

With a prop fitted, you'd be toast before you got to the intake for sure! Without, I'd imagine you would have to be very close (if not almost peering in) to get sucked in. Even then the compressor is only about 2ft in diameter and there are six inlet guide vanes in a spokes pattern beforehand which would stop a person getting to the compressor blades. I worked around T56 engines for half my RNZAF career and this has got me stumped! But just goes to show, it can happen!

I read somewhere they attempted CPR on him? I guess that rules out that he passed through the engine? Still, very sad loss of life. RIP.

AlisterC wrote:

QUOTE (AlisterC @ Aug 8 2011,5:59 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I read somewhere they attempted CPR on him? I guess that rules out that he passed through the engine? Still, very sad loss of life. RIP.

Yes - there is no way you could get all the way into the compressor, for most people even crawling in the intake and then reaching that far with one arm would be difficult.

Interesting. Thanks Deane for the insight