Man Sucked Into Plane Engine at Airport

Reuters ^ | April 18, 2002 | Reuters

[Pern]

TOKYO (Reuters) - A man died after being sucked into the engine of an Air China aircraft at Kansai airport in western Japan Thursday and police said it may have been suicide.

Police said colleagues saw Zhang Xinmin, a 39-year old Chinese member of the airline's maintenance staff, chase after the Boeing 767 as it began to taxi toward the runway for take-off.

"It is possible he may have committed suicide, or he may have been running toward the engine for some other reason and was sucked in. We are investigating both possibilities," said a spokesman for the airport police.

The plane had been scheduled to fly to Beijing with 218 passengers and crew on board.

[Pern]

I would think he would have wanted a less painful way to kill himself. Being ground into hamburger sounds like it would hurt.

[irish guard]

That's gonna leave a mark

[f.Christian]

Bet he won't do that again!

[zarf]

Wow! Hideous way to go.

[Semper Paratus]

Also feel sorry for the airport's cleanup crew.

[Daus]

Ouch.... He was probably chasing his hat or something stupid like that.

"Paging Mr. Darwin... Please pick up the white courtesy phone... Mr. Darwin to the white courtesy phone..."

[doug from upland]

With the thousands of stories about Bill Clinton that involve the word sucked, it is a shame he is not the subject of this one.

[billorites]

His name was Zhang Xinmin, but his friends called him "Chuck."

[martin_fierro]

He shall evermore be known as Zhang Xinminced.

[Phantom Lord]

Happens a couple times a year on US aircraft carriers and air bases.

Saw a thing on aircraft carriers on TLC or Discovery and they were interviewing one of the guys who hooks the plane into the lauch thingy. He talked of how it is of utmost importance to avoid the intake on the engines and had a nickname for the intakes. Cant remember what it was, but it was a good one.

[Mo1]

Oh Geezzz.... too earlier in the morning to be reading this ..

[Mixer]

Holy crap!

[Rebelbase]

Jet engines eat anything.

[elwoodp]

That's a winner, Doug! Actually, I wonder how painful that kind of death is? Quick? Slow? Guess it depends on how you got in -- head or feet first.

[blackdog]

Yeah,I hate when that happens. That happened to me once, but they poured salt all over me to stop the bleeding. Don't you hate it when that happens? If that wasn't bad enough, then they poured alchohol all over me to clean me up. Then when they removed the bandages, they were all stuck, so they had to use a wire brush and acid. God, I hate when that happens.

[ArrogantBustard]

So that's what happened to my luggage!

[blackdog]

I think the airport's clean-up crew need only consist of small birds, rodents, and insects with very few teeth.

[ItisaReligionofPeace]

I'm sure it's pretty quick regardless of which side enters first.

[newgeezer]

I would think he would have wanted a less painful way to kill himself.

This makes suicide-by-chainsaw sound easy.