# NTSB MIA02LA134: Saab-Scania SF340B, N403XJ, Tupelo, MS, July 16, 2002 - Type: NTSB accident investigation - Classification: Accident · Serious injuries · Limited investigation · Final report - Date: July 16, 2002, 09:30 local (14:30 UTC) - Place: Tupelo, MS - Coordinates: 34.268054, -88.769996 - Nearby events: https://openairdocs.org/map.md?lat=34.2681&lon=-88.7700&mi=10 - Phase of flight: [Standing](https://openairdocs.org/ntsb-phases/150) (OpenAirDocs' grouping) - Highest injury: Serious injuries - Injuries: 1 serious, 2 uninjured; on the ground: 1 serious - Status: Completed, report December 6, 2002 - Report: Approved by Office Director - Parties: FSDO FAA - NTSB case key (mKey): 55225 - NTSB case page: https://web.ntsb.gov/investigations/?ntsbnumber=MIA02LA134 - NTSB report (PDF, downloads): https://data.ntsb.gov/carol-repgen/api/Aviation/ReportMain/GenerateNewestReport/55225/pdf - NTSB docket: https://data.ntsb.gov/Docket?ProjectID=55225 - Page: https://openairdocs.org/ntsb/MIA02LA134 ## Probable cause The failure of the ground agent to follow procedures and directives and to maintain a visual lookout due to a diversion of attention caused by paperwork being sucked toward the rotating propeller, resulting in collision between her hand and the propeller. ## Sequence of events In NTSB's coding before 2008 (https://www.ntsb.gov/GILS/Documents/codman.pdf). - Propeller/rotor contact to person, standing - engine(s) operating - procedures/directives - not followed, ground personnel (cause) - visual lookout - not maintained, ground personnel (cause) - diverted attention, ground personnel (cause) ## Analysis According to numerous eyewitnesses, the airline ramp agent marshaled the arriving Saab-340B to its parking spot, chocked the nose wheel, and was in the process of delivering flight papers to the captain's access port when the papers blew out of her breast pocket. As she tried to retrieve the loose papers, her right hand contacted the winding down left propeller, and her thumb and two fingers were severed. Her manager characterized the cause as a case of impulse reactiveness on the part of the ramp agent in spite of having been trained on ground handling of the Saab 340 aircraft. ## Factual narrative On July 16, 2002, about 0930 central daylight time, a Saab 340B, N403XJ, registered to Wachovia Bank NA Trustee, operating as a Title 14 CFR Part 121 Mesaba air carrier flight, dba Northwest Airlink, was involved in a ground accident with a ramp agent at the Tupelo Regional Airport, Tupelo, Mississippi. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed and an instrument flight rules flight plan was filed. The airplane received no damage, and the ramp agent received serious injuries. The flight arrived in Tupelo, Mississippi, at 0925, and was scheduled to depart at 0940. According to the captain, the flightcrew did not see the accident. After they were given the "stop" signal by the marshaler, the flightcrew set parking brakes, set condition levers to start/feather, and were waiting for the "chocks in" signal from the marshaler when she appeared off the left nose of the aircraft holding her bleeding hand. At this time the captain performed an emergency left engine shutdown, instructed the first officer to finish the securing checklist and the passengers to stay seated, and exited the aircraft to lend assistance. He stated at no time was the captain's access port open. According to an official with the FAA, the ramp agent had just placed chocks against the nose tires of the arriving flight, and as she approached the captain's access port to deliver flight documents to the crew, the port had not been opened. She then stuffed the papers into her breast pocket and readjusted the nose gear chocks. As she approached the captain's access port for the second time, the documents blew out of her breast pocket. As she scurried to retrieve them, her right hand contacted the engine number one rotating propeller. The propeller was feathered and winding down when the accident occurred. The ramp agent's right thumb and two adjacent fingers were severed. According to the chief pilot of Mesaba Airlines, the ramp agent was an employee of Pinnacle Airlines who contracts with Mesaba to conduct ground handling of aircraft at the Tupelo airport. The Mesaba ground handling manual states that any part of the ramp aft of the nose gear of the Saab 340 is a prohibited zone and is not to be occupied until propellers have stopped rotating. The Tupelo Station Manager for Pinnacle Airlines confirmed that the training given to their ramp agents states that no part of the ramp aft of the Saab's front loading door should be occupied until propellers have stopped. The accident ramp agent had received the training. He stated further that the accident happened, primarily, due to impulse reaction when the dispatch papers blew out of the agent's breast pocket. ## Aircraft - Registration: [N403XJ](https://openairdocs.org/deregistered/N403XJ-2019-06-07), registration cancelled 2019-06-07, S/N 340B-403 (OpenAirDocs) - Reported make and model: Saab-Scania AB (Saab) SF340B - Registry model: [Saab-Scania SAAB 340B](https://openairdocs.org/model/saab-scania-saab-340b) (registry code 7860101) (OpenAirDocs) - Registry engine: [GE CT7-SER series](https://openairdocs.org/engine/ge-ct7-ser-series) (registry code 30031, turbo-prop) (OpenAirDocs) - Category: Airplane - Serial number: 403 - Airframe hours: 14417 - Engines: General Electric CT7-9B 1750 horsepower turbo prop; General Electric CT7-9B 1750 horsepower turbo prop - Damage: No damage - Flight: Part 121 - Operator: Mesaba Airlines, doing business as Northwest Airlines Airlink - Registered owner: Wachovia Bank NA, Trustee - Airworthiness certificate: Standard, Transport - Last inspection: Continuous airworthiness, June 7, 2002, 343 hours before - Departed: MEM, Memphis, TN - Destination: TUP, Tupelo, MS - Flight plan: IFR - Airport: TUP, Tupelo Regional ## Flight crew As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names. - Pilot; age 28; injuries: none; airline transport, flight instructor, commercial; airplane ratings: single-engine sea, single-engine land; instrument ratings: helicopter, airplane; medical: class 1, without waivers/limitations; last flight review June 21, 2002; seat: left; flight hours: 4,000 total, 250 in this make and model, 1,900 as pilot in command, 100 in the last 90 days, 70 in the last 30 days, 6 in the last 24 hours - Co-pilot; age 25; injuries: none; commercial, flight instructor; airplane ratings: single-engine land, multi-engine land; instrument ratings: airplane; last flight review May 13, 2002; seat: right; flight hours: 2,500 total, 1,300 in this make and model, 1,000 as pilot in command, 150 in the last 90 days, 40 in the last 30 days, 6 in the last 24 hours ## Weather - Conditions: Visual (VMC), Day - Wind: 290° at 6 knots - Visibility: 10 statute miles - Lowest ceiling: none - Temperature: 79 °F, dew point 73 °F - Altimeter: 30.15 inHg - Observed at: TUP ## FAA reports on this event (1) The FAA's own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date (OpenAirDocs). - [Accident 20020716016819A](https://openairdocs.org/incident/20020716016819A), Jul 16, 2002: Saab 340B, Tupelo, MS. (-23) Ground handler lost grip on paperwork and was chasing the documents when her right hand made contact with the left prop, severing the right thumb, index… ## Docket (4 files) The files NTSB released with the investigation on October 25, 2002, on NTSB's docket system: https://data.ntsb.gov/Docket?ProjectID=55225. 565 KB in all. - Reports from Federal Agencies-FAA Inspector's Statement (item 1, .PDF, 76 KB): https://data.ntsb.gov/Docket/Document/docBLOB?ID=40463334&FileExtension=.PDF&FileName=Reports%20from%20Federal%20Agencies-FAA%20Inspector%27s%20Statement-Master.PDF - Pilot/Operator Aircraft Accident Report, NTSB Form 6120.1 (item 2, .PDF, 351 KB): https://data.ntsb.gov/Docket/Document/docBLOB?ID=40463335&FileExtension=.PDF&FileName=Pilot%2FOperator%20Aircraft%20Accident%20Report,%20NTSB%20Form%206120.1-Master.PDF - Transcript of Telephone Communications-Station Mgr.Tupelo/Pinnacle Airlines (item 3, .PDF, 52 KB): https://data.ntsb.gov/Docket/Document/docBLOB?ID=40463336&FileExtension=.PDF&FileName=Transcript%20of%20Telephone%20Communications-Station%20Mgr.Tupelo%2FPinnacle%20Airlines-Master.PDF - Other Pertinent Forms and Reports-Captain's Statement (item 4, .PDF, 86 KB): https://data.ntsb.gov/Docket/Document/docBLOB?ID=40169384&FileExtension=.PDF&FileName=Other%20Pertinent%20Forms%20and%20Reports-Captain%27s%20Statement-Redacted.PDF From the NTSB's public API. Aircraft are matched to registry aircraft by N-number and event date, checked against the reported serial number, make and model; the registry's history has gaps, so older matches can be wrong. Compare the reported make and model. --- OpenAirDocs.org is an independent research project of [Contrail Labs](https://contraillabs.com/). It is not affiliated with the FAA or the NTSB. Source documents are U.S. government works in the public domain.