Right Arm Partly Severed, Woman Taken To Specialists

A woman deplaning from a Cessna at Frederick Municipal Airport (FDK) in Maryland November 6 is lucky to be alive, after walking into the moving propeller of the airplane.

FAA spokesman Jim Peters said the Cessna 172 landed at FDK about 7 pm and proceeded to the ramp in front of the main terminal building, the Frederick News-Post reported.

Exiting from the left side of the plane and heading for the restaurant in the terminal building, the 19-year old woman walked around the front of the plane where the propeller struck and partly severed her right arm, according to Frederick Police Department reports.

Police spokesman Lieutenant Richard Hetherington said a Maryland State Police flight medic was on the scene when Frederick Police officers arrived about 7:10 pm. The woman was medevaced to Union Memorial Hospital in Baltimore, where hand and arm specialists waited to treat her injury.

Hetherington did not release the name of the woman or the pilot, reportedly a flight instructor and also a friend of the injured woman.

Airport Manager Kevin Daugherty speculated the pilot was unfamiliar with the Frederick airport, because transient aircraft usually park on the flight line at Landmark Aviation, he said.

FAA registration lists the owner of the plane as 210 Centurion Group LLC of Laurel, MD, and Daugherty said the plane returned to its home base at Baltimore's Martin State Airport on Friday morning.

The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the incident, Peters said.

FMI: www.ntsb.gov, www.faa.gov