Man Killed After Climbing Into Plane’s Running Jet Engine At Amsterdam Airport In Apparent Suicide

Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport was the scene of a horrific incident on Wednesday when a man was killed after jumping into the engine of a departing airplane.

The fatal incident occurred around 2:25 p.m. local time as a KLM Cityhopper Embraer E190 regional jet was preparing to take off for Billund, Denmark.

The man, who was an airport employee, climbed into the engine after the plane had just completed the pushback and was about to taxi to the runway.

Authorities believe the man acted intentionally in an apparent suicide. His identity remains undisclosed.
“Today there was a horrible incident where a person ended up in an airplane engine,” Schiphol Airport said in a statement. “Our thoughts go out to the relatives, and we care for the passengers and colleagues who witnessed this.”

The tragic incident has sparked an investigation by the Royal Netherlands Marechaussee, a national police force responsible for airport security. All passengers and crew on the KLM flight disembarked from the plane and are being provided with assistance and support in the wake of the traumatic event they witnessed.

While the circumstances surrounding how the victim ended up being pulled into the operating engine remain unclear, the incident sadly continues a string of similar recent tragedies at airports around the world.

In January 2023, a ground handling agent at Montgomery Regional Airport in Alabama was killed after being sucked into a plane’s engine despite repeated warnings to maintain a safe distance. Just a few months later, in July, another airport worker met a similarly gruesome fate after being pulled into a jet engine at San Antonio International Airport in Texas.

While extremely rare, incidents of this nature underscore the innumerable safety risks and hazards that exist at active airport operations areas. Rigorous training and enforcement of safety protocols are critical to preventing such tragic loss of life.