(Image via abcnews.go.com)
Staff Writer: Akshit Bagga
Email: abagga@umassd.edu
A 37-year-old professional photographer and skydiver from Kansas died after she stepped back into an airplane propeller while snapping pictures of skydivers.
Amanda Gallagher worked at Air Capital Drop Zone as a photographer who enjoyed capturing sky adventurers. On October 26th, she was doing her routine job when clicking a memorable moment for people turned into a horrific incident for her after she backed up into the spinning propeller of a Cessna 182.
She sustained critical injuries and was rushed to the hospital, but later died from her injuries. Amanda flew in the plane to take pictures of the divers as they were jumping off for their airborne journey and rode back to the ground in the Cessna plane.
The incident occurred when Gallagher was capturing skydivers’ step feet on the ground after completing their jumps, and the next group of people were walking onto the airplane.
In a statement issued by the company, Air Capital Drop Zone mentioned Amanda as one of their flight observers who took photos.
Their statement said, “After the airplane landed, for unknown reasons, as the next group of jumpers were boarding, she moved in front of the wind, a violation of basic safety procedures”
They added, “With her camera up to shoot photos as she did so, she stepped back slightly moving toward and spinning into the spinning propeller.”
Air Capital Drop Zone is a Kansas-based skydiving company. The company operates from Cook Airfield, which is a privately owned airport facility in the city of Derby, approximately 15 miles south of Wichita.
The owner of Air Capital Drop Zone, Martin Myrtle, described Amanda as someone “beautiful inside and out” and mentioned that the woman’s tragic death had a “profound” impact on the community at Drop Zone. Martin said, “Her presence at the DZ was welcomed, she was loved.”
The incident was reported to the Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Office. An October 28th media release issued by Lt. Eric Slay read, “Sedgwick County Sheriff Deputies were dispatched to a public accident at 7015 S 143rd St. S. (Air Capital Drop Zone), that occurred on October 26th at approximately 2:40 PM. Amanda Gallagher of Wichita (37-year-old female), made contact with a grounded and stationary, but still running plane, and received critical injuries.”
It continued, “Gallagher was transported to Wesley Medical Center via Sedgwick County EMS. She was later pronounced deceased due to injuries sustained.”
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) have launched an investigation to determine the safety circumstances that were compromised and led to this unfortunate incident. As per FAA’s website, NTSB will be in charge of conducting a thorough investigation and providing a report after the completion of the investigation.
While we rarely hear of on-ground incidents in the aviation sector, this isn’t a first occurrence in 2024. A 30-year-old passenger died in January 2024 after they entered an Airbus A220’s engine at Utah’s Salt Lake City International Airport.
Kyler Efinger breached airport security by running through a terminal’s emergency exit and entering the aircraft’s engine during a deicing (snow or frost removal) operation.
Following the incident, the San Francisco-bound Delta Airline flight (DL2348) had to return to the gate, and all the 95 passengers on board had to disembark, which caused the flight to be canceled.
In May 2024, a person was killed after they were drawn into the engine of a KLM Cityhopper Embraer E190 departing from Amsterdam Schiphol Airport (AMS).
Amanda’s sister-in-law started a GoFundMe to raise money for her funeral expenses. The fundraiser drew $19,920 in donations. In an update on the page, Amanda’s funeral service was scheduled for November 1st at South Rock Christian Church in Derby, KS.