10mo ago

US air force finds contractor who walked into propeller had become disorientated

www.theguardian.com US air force finds contractor who walked into propeller had become disorientated

Stephanie Cosme, 32, was killed last year when she inadvertently walked into the rotating propeller of an aircraft in California

Stephanie Cosme, 32, was killed last year when she inadvertently walked into the rotating propeller of an aircraft in California

A US air force civilian contractor had become disoriented recording data at an airport in California last year when she walked into a jet’s rotating propeller and was killed, officials said on Friday.

In a statement outlining the findings of a report into the contractor’s death, the air force materiel command said that 32-year-old Stephanie Cosme was mortally injured on 7 September when she inadvertently walked into the rotating propeller of an MQ-9A that was parked at Gray Butte airfield.

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10mo ago

US air force finds contractor who walked into propeller had become disorientated

www.theguardian.com /us-news/2024/apr/05/us-air-force-contractor-death-stephanie-cosme

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the air force materiel command accident investigation board said it found two causes for the incident.
“First,” the board said, “the test engineer was incorrectly instructed or trained on how to take telemetry readings when approaching the MQ-9A while the engine was running. Second, she lost situational awareness while walking around the mishap aircraft taking telemetry readings with a hand-held measurement device.”
Yeah, no one warned her how deadly this was and not thinking about she walked right into that propeller looking down. Not sure that relieves them or fault but definitely an accurate assessment of what happened
- There's fault on both sides. The Air Force for not training her properly, and her for walking around operating equipment without paying attention to things that'll kill you.
  Legally, though, the Air Force is probably going to pay out for her death.
  
  The military is a lot more tolerant about working around running aircraft than civilians. Nominally there's a lot more training/drilling/etc to keep situational awareness up... But also occasionally someone walks into a prop or gets sucked into a jet.
  I'm sure this'll spawn a new series of briefings.
  Not sure how it'll work with any payouts since she was a contractor. In general you're being paid more at the cost of less of the compensation packages that service members get.
- “Others began shouting and waving to get [Cosme’s] attention as well,” the report said.
  They warned her, but she didn’t look up. It’s horrible that they had to witness that.
  
  Oh no, you don't hear anything near a running plane. Shouting at the time is pissing in the wind. Definitely on her a bit for not checking in often around a moving death machine. But shouting over the whir doesn't count.
  Still truly awful to witness anything that horrific. As someone that has, the right answer is absolutely to look away and don't let anyone tell you, you are wrong to.

I hope she at least died immediately, that sounds like a terrible way to go.
- That's a reaper drone. The bottom of the prop is about 4 or 5 feet off the ground. I'm confident it was quick, morbid as that sounds.
- She was working on reaper drones. I hope she died a painful slow death.
  
  Don't cut yourself with that edge
  
  Grow up.
  Warfare equipment is required to defend, as well as attack. Let's see who you're calling evil when a would-be attacking nation waltzes in and rapes your family while you're tied up in the corner, and then murders you like the Russians were doing to the Ukrainians.
  That woman was doing the hard work that you were unable to, because you're too much of a bitch to accept reality.
  
  Evil.
  
  No. I'd rather the warmongers who deploy them take her place. Karma should hit the top of the hierarchy not the bottom.

Is disorientated a word? Isn’t it just “disoriented”?
- Disorientated is the proper word in English, disoriented is the American misspelling.
  
  Classic British prescriptivism
  
  Today I learned.

- Tbf, she probably died very quickly. Now the mess after her is going to be nasty. And everywhere
  
  mistifying.

“Disorientated” gets me. Why not save a few letters and use “disoriented”? You don’t orientate yourself to your environment, you orient yourself.
- Disoriented is the US version; disorientated is the British version.
  
  Never thought about that. People frequently say orientate at my work (I am a stenographer) and it bothers me to no end, because it takes me longer to write orientate versus orient. But now it makes sense, British language.
  
  Still doesn’t make sense to me. There’s no need for the “tate”. She was disoriented, not properly oriented. Do you say “orientate” for the verb, or “orient”?
- For me, it was the article describing walking into the propeller of a jet. Clearly someone didn’t read this over before clicking submit
  
  It's a turboprop plane, so a jet engine driving a propeller. Definitely sounds weird when phrased like that though.
- They're padding the report just like someone writing a paper on a subject they don't understand.
  They know it was their fault for not training her properly, but as typical they try to deflect blame to anyone else.
  It's pretty well understood that financial reports of public companies that aren't trying to hide something are easier to read than ones from companies that are trying to hide something. I think this is another example of that concept.
- Did George W Bush write this report? That sounds like a a made up word for when you can't remember the actual word.
  
  My favorite by Trump:
  Covfefe
- Yeah, that’s why we call them Orientals!

She became disoriented... recording data?
- The loudness of the plane, plus looking down at the device, plus the prop moving so fast and high enough off the ground that she didn't see it in corner of her eye.
- yeah like what?

How very “Breakout” of her.
Okay, that was bad. Poor lady.

Why was a civilian allowed to record around active jets and expected to safely lead themselves? Pokémon go had to warn people not to walk off cliffs and into traffic, but the Air Force is accessory to this without having someone to watch her movements and nothing?
- Her job was to be on active tarmac near running aircraft. She isn't some random person that shouldn't have been there.
  It appears she wasn't paying attention and people tried to stop her from walking into the propeller.
  “Others began shouting and waving to get [Cosme’s] attention as well,” the report said. It added: “Without looking up to determine her position relative to the aircraft, [Cosme] proceeded to walk directly into the propeller … sustaining fatal injuries.”
  
  Probably an accident due to familiarity. Some guy off the street is gonna pay attention around a running airplane, someone been working around them for years might just get distracted.
  
  Huh. It appears the investigation shows she was trained incorrectly.
  https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/apr/05/us-air-force-contractor-death-stephanie-cosme
  
  "We've investigated ourselves and found no wrongdoing."
  I guess because it's not cops and because the snowball effect has taken hold, this rhetoric suddenly doesn't apply.
- Why was a civilian allowed to record around active jets and expected to safely lead themselves?
  I mean, I walk on a sidewalk right next to traffic. I've worked with power tools. People work around heavy machinery.
  We come in close proximity to things that have enough energy to kill us on a not-irregular basis.
  
  I think people underestimate how many civilians work alongside our men and women in uniform. Walk out to any hangar on a base in the US and it will be close to half and half. If it’s test facility it may be more civilians.
  
  Cars are machinery the public is integrated with and understands the dangers of - she can’t be expected to navigate distracted as though she’s trained to be around active jets. It is not the same thing at all as being near the street.
- There are all kinds of civilians working for the military. This isn't some active war zone where she stepped on a land mine. Every civilian doing work on an airport tar mac doesn't require a military member holding their hand to tell them not to walk into spinning proppellers. Blaming this on the military vs just an unfortunate accident is just ridiculous
  
  Huh. It appears the investigation shows she was trained incorrectly.
  https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/apr/05/us-air-force-contractor-death-stephanie-cosme
  
  I don't think anyone's claiming it was during the chaos of wartime, but it was an active airfield. So yes, it's their responsibility to limit access, keep track of everyone, and keep both pedestrians and vehicles/aircraft safe.
- You are correct, but the snowball effect has taken hold so it's up to people smarter than the average lemmy/redditor to do things right.

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