FOD!

"The guy was supposed to hook up the launch bar. Rather than coming in from behind the inlet and then forward, he just walked in front of the inlet. He'd done this frequently, stating that he was even in the habit of actually looking at the engine as he went by. This wouldn't have been a problem, except that the A-6 driver was in MIL power (rather than Ground Idle)"

http://yarchive.net/mil/human_fod.html

"His gyros were pretty obviously uncaged at that point."

During Operation Desert Storm, John Bridget, was sucked into an A-6E's engine while preparing the jet for take-off. Although the plane was already on the catapult and the engines were running, Bridget was able to crawl out of the engine but collapsed on the flight deck. His only injuries were some scratches. He survived because of his protective suit which destroyed and stopped the engine.

After the accident John Bridget left the Navy.

From Mike Cummins

More amazing is that the guy survived. He was checking a newbies work hooking up the catapult when this happened. His uniform snagged on the PT2 sensor keeping him from doing a header into the fan long enough that the pilot shut down the engine. Later footage shows the guy crawling out of the inlet and falling onto the deck. Remember, this was shot with infrared cameras, so none of the event was visible real time. The deck crew didn't know a man had been sucked into the inlet, only that the aircraft seemed to have experienced an engine failure. As the guy crawls out of the inlet all deck hands are back towards the rear of the plane looking at the engine. There is even footage from the next day when the captain interviews the guy on the ship's TV. He looked pretty banged up, with bruises and lacerations to the head and face and either a broken collar bone or shoulder. All in all, a pretty damned lucky guy.

Below are two videos of the accident:

Video 1

Video 2

A USN T-44A "Pegasus" (aka "King Air" - see right) suffered a strike by a Turkey Vulture on the right-hand horizontal stabilizer

Severe pucker factor for a UAE C-130 "Hercules" crew. The propeller went through the starboard side of the fuselage and out the port side ... hope no one was in the way.

Thanks to "Omar"!

King Air's susceptibility under further question?!

Oh, deer!