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Montgomery Regional Airport confirmed that an American Airlines/Piedmont Airlines ground crew employee was killed in an industrial accident on New Year's Eve, 2022.
The confirmation was made via Twitter on January 1, 2023. No further information detailing the course of events leading to the tragedy was revealed apart from the time of the incident, which was 3:00 pm in the afternoon. The MGM Twitter account @flymgm stated:
"Today around 3 pm an American Airlines ground crew piedmont employee was involved in a fatality, no additional information is available at this time. Our thoughts and prayers are with the family of the deceased."
The American Airlines employee was reportedly standing too close to an engine
An American Airlines employee was killed during an unfortunate incident on December 31, 2022, at 3 pm at Montgomery Regional Airport in Alabama.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) reported that the employee was killed on the ramp at the airport where American Airlines Flight 3408, an Embraer E175 twin-jet, was parked. The airport was closed after the incident occurred.
The airport resumed normal operations later that evening at around 8:30 pm, but investigations into the incident are still underway.
In a statement released by The National Transportation Safety Board, the member of the ground support personnel was reportedly "ingested into the engine" of an aircraft while it was parked at the gate with the parking brake set. The employee was said to have been sucked into the running engine of an Envoy Air flight that was parked ahead of its scheduled flight to Dallas, Texas.
While the victim's identity has not yet been revealed to protect the privacy of their family and next of kin, it has been confirmed that they were an employee of Piedmont Airlines. Both Envoy and Piedmont are regional subsidiaries of American Airlines.
Piedmont Airlines also said it has assigned its CARE team to provide support to the victim's family and friends, as well as co-workers who were present at the time of the incident. Wade A. Davis, Montgomery Airport's executive director, released a statement of condolences to the victim's family. He said:
"We are saddened to hear about the tragic loss of a team member of the AA/Piedmont Airlines. Our thoughts and prayers are with the family during this difficult time."
This is not the first fatal incident to be reported from an airport. On August 30, 2022, Jermani Thompson, 26, working at Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport as a luggage handler, was killed when her hair got tangled in a belt loader. She worked for GAT Ground Support, and the incident occurred at around 10:00 pm.
