Investigation Underway After Prop Accident Death

According to Lieutenant Eric Slay of the Sedgwick County Sheriff's Office Amanda Gallagher, 37 and a Wichita resident, was taking a photograph of people loading an aircraft at 2:40 p.m. CDT when she failed to stay out of the propeller arc of the Cessna 182 and was critically injured.

The aircraft was operated by Air Capital Drop Zone (ACDZ). According to Martin Myrtle, the owner of the company, Gallagher was a skydiver who had been aboard the aircraft to take photos. Instead of jumping with the previous customers, she stayed aboard when the aircraft landed then disembarked to get photographs of the next group of jumpers.

According to a statement from Myrtle, as the next group of jumpers were loading, Gallagher "moved in front of the wing, a violation of basic safety procedures. With her camera up to shoot photos, as she did so, she stepped back slightly, moving toward and into the spinning propeller."

Gallagher was taken to a local hospital but died of her injuries a short time later.

According to Myrtle, Gallagher has been around the ACZZ for a few months, making her first jump a month ago and a "handful of jumps" since then.

As part of the first jump course, clients are given a briefing and training on safety protocols that include warnings about avoiding the propeller arc. When the propeller is spinning, it moves so fast that it appears to disappear, so it is easy to walk into harm's way.

Both the FAA and National Transportation Safety Board are investigating the accident.