The news of the man who would have been sucked into the engine of an airplane to Orio al Serio looks like a metropolitan legend: can really an engine be lethal?
A tragic accident occurred toairport of Orio al Serio has brought attention to a little known but real danger: the risk that one person is sucked into a reaction engine. According to the first reconstructions, a person would have been sucked into one of the engines of an Airbus A319 scheduled plane during operations on the ground, in circumstances that are still being examined by the authorities. But is it really possible? The answer is yes. And the risk it also exists when i engines I’m not at full power.
How does a reaction engine like the one involved in the episode?
THE Motors in Turboventola Like those installed on the plane involved are designed to generate between 85 and 120 kn of push through a multi -stadium process. The air enters through the Great front ventilation (the “fan”), is compressed by a series of compressors interiormixed with fuel and then lit in the room Of combustion. The hot gases that are generated come out at high speed from the back, producing push.
A part of this air does not enter the combustionbut is accelerated by the fan and wanders (Bypassa) the central nucleus: it is this “double way” that makes i turboventola more efficient and relatively quieter compared to old pure reaction engines.
In all this process, the initial phase – that is, thesuction air – is crucial: even when the motor is al minimumthe strength with which “swallows” the air from part front It remains very high. And it is precisely this aspiration that represents a immediate physical danger for those who approach too much.
What does “minimum regime” or “idle” mean?
The risk It also exists when the plane is in conditions of “minimum regime” (in Italian) and “idle“(in technical English) that is when the motor And bright but it is not providing push sufficient to make the plane move. It is the way in which it remains on “waiting”, for example while the plane is stopped at the gate or is rolling slowly.
Also it seems to be “sleeping”, a engine in idle continues to suck up hundreds air dictates to the second. This creates a dangerous, invisible but very powerful suction field. And, given that in those conditions an engine is also difficult to be audible by the earth operators (who, in carrying out their activities, wear anti -pitch headphones), starting from the 90s, the safety bodies have introduced for scheduled planes Lo Swirl Marker, or Spinner Spiralthe symbol of a spiral placed on the front conical coverage of the engine that evidence the rotation of the fan.
How dangerous is a bright jet engine?
To give us an immediate idea of the risk are the numbers provided by the IATA (International Air Transport Association), which represents airlines from all over the world and has defined danger areas around reaction engines, and from the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration), the US Federal Agency that regulates civil aviation:
- The risk area is of about 4.2 meters from the engine When this is at a minimum and arrives up to 10 meters When the engines are higher speed
- there Air speed is over 150 km/has 1 meter away
- The suction pressure: up to -10 kPa
In practice a person less than 3 meters From an engine to a minimum it can be unbalanced. Less than 1 meter, it can be completely sucked.
Accidents already happened: it is not the first time
The case of Orio al Serio is still under investigation, but similar episodes are already documented. In 2006, in Atlanta, a mechanic of an airline was sucked from an engine of a Boeing 737 while the plane was at a minimum. He died instantly.
A similar event occurred in 2023, in Alabama, where an operator was swallow From a heated engine of an Embraer E175, also in that case in Idle. The most sensational case remains that of 1991 on one U.S. aircraft carriers, where a sailor was sucked from the engine of an A-6 Intruder but It survived: it was extracted with severe burns, but alive, An exceptional circumstance.
