A woman was seriously injured when she walked into a moving propeller at the Bay Bridge Airport in Stevensville, Maryland, on April 5, police said. Cynthia Lynn Connelly Ryan walked into the propeller just after 12:30 p.m., they said. She suffered a severe head laceration and was transported to the R. Adams Cowley Shock-Trauma Center in Baltimore.
Jaime Giandomenico, manager of the airport, said the airplane involved made a routine landing and Ms. Ryan stepped out on the right hand side. He said the propeller was still moving at idle speed and may have been hard to see. An airport staffer and another pilot saw what happened, called 911 for help, and rendered aid until emergency crews responded. Giandomenico said the light sport aircraft, a small two-seater, is based at Suburban Airport near Laurel, Maryland. There was one other person on board, who was piloting the plane.
We note that this instance of someone being killed or (in Cynthia Ryan’s case) injured by a whirling propeller, involved a light sport aircraft. If the economy recovers, we may see many such aircraft because they’re not only more affordable, but also a Sport Pilot license costs less to earn.
In recent years, we have seen many airplanes, such as those built by Cirrus, equipped with parachutes to lower the plane to the ground in event of emergencies like continuing VFR into IMC. So I imagine that some folks out there might want to make such parachutes mandatory – regardless of the reduction in allowable fuel + payload weight that may result.
Aircraft pilots and owners, watch out! If that were to come to pass, next thing you know we may see people who don’t like private planes anyway, demanding protective wire cages around airplane propellers and helicopter tail rotors – regardless of the aerodynamic consequences.