LTE opens inquiry after mechanic dies during engine test

Flight's safety and operations editor David Learmount says:

"The risks associated with engine run-up tests, whether jet or propeller, are well understood, and all airlines and airports have rules about where, how and what time of day they should be done.

It’s a highly regulated activity not only because of the potential risks of jet or propeller blast behind the engine and the complex wind climate that can be induced ahead of it, but because of environmental considerations like noise.

The risks include damage to the engines themselves, and to any unsecured objects, vehicles or people in the vicinity. Engines can be damaged by ingesting foreign object debris (FOD) that is sucked up from the pavement ahead and to either side of the engine intakes, and FOD behind the engine can be blown away causing damage to anything it hits.

Large objects close to the front of the engine are just as vulnerable as small ones to the considerable air disturbance created there – sometimes more so -  depending on their weight (density); baggage and freight containers have been sucked into engines.

Since huge volumes of air pass through a turbofan engine or a propeller when it runs up even to medium power levels, the atmospheric behaviour ahead of the engines can become very complex, especially depending on the direction of the wind relative to the way the aircraft is facing.

Eddies generated naturally by the wind passing over structures and objects in the vicinity add to the complex air-flow behaviour.

Normally invisible to the eye unless dust is present, the equivalent of horizontal mini tornadoes can be created, and these can have the power to lift a person and draw them into the engine or propeller.