NYC03LA046 · Mitsubishi MU-2B-60
Mitsubishi MU-2B-60 · Accident while standing
From Burke Lakefront Airport (BKL) to Chicago Midway International Airport (MDW)
Event
- NTSB case
- NYC03LA046
- Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
- Accident
- InvestigationHow far the investigation had got when the record was published: preliminary, ongoing, final or completed. Unknown where the source does not say. Glossary
- Completed
- API-reported fatalities
- 1 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- 1
- OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
- Charter & commuter
- WeatherVisual meteorological conditions (VMC): good enough to fly by looking outside. Instrument conditions (IMC): cloud or low visibility, flying by instruments. Glossary
- Visual Meteorological Cond
Mitsubishi MU-2B-60
- Aircraft type
- Mitsubishi MU-2
- Category
- Airplane
- RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
- N941MA
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Burke Lakefront Airport (BKL), Cleveland, OHTo Chicago Midway International Airport (MDW), Chicago, IL
- Aircraft age
- Not recorded
- Flight rulesThe regulations the flight operated under: in the US, Part 91 (general aviation), Part 121 (airlines), Part 135 (air taxi and commuter) and others; for flights abroad, the NTSB's coarser commercial or non-commercial code. Glossary
- Part 135: Air Taxi & Commuter
- Phase of flightThe stage of the flight when things started to go wrong: standing, taxi, takeoff, initial climb, en route, maneuvering, approach or landing. Glossary
- Standing · engine(s) operating
- First occurrenceThe single coded event the NTSB judges best describes what happened (records from 2008 on). Older records name the first occurrence in the sequence instead. Glossary
- Miscellaneous/other
- DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
- Minor
Cause areas
- Other person › Visual lookout, inadequate
Approximate · Coordinates from the NTSB case API, which marks them as estimated or does not say; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
The bank courier for the federal reserve bank drove his vehicle onto the ramp, and helped load the accident airplane. He then drove to another nearby airplane and assisted in the loading of that airplane. He then found two bags that belonged on the accident airplane. In the mean time, the pilot of the accident airplane had closed the door, secured his cargo, and started his engines. After the line person gave the pilot the OK to taxi, the pilot momentarily looked inside the cockpit to remove the propellers from the start locks. When he looked up, the bank courier was walking toward the left propeller holding two bags. The courier walked into the rotating propeller of the left engine as the pilot was attempting to shut it down. Witnesses reported the navigation lights and red rotating beacons were illuminated on the accident airplane. Witnesses also reported that nothing in the bank courier actions gave them concern. Interviews disclosed the bank had an on-the-job training program, but it did not include any training about the hazards of working around airplanes with operating engines, nor did the bank have a policy about approaching and/or loading airplanes with the engines operating.
Probable cause
the bank couriers inadequate visual lookout, as he approached an airplane with operating engines. A factor was the lack of guidance and training from the bank, for working around airplanes with operating engines.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record NYC03LA046
- Event ID
- 20030212X00200
- Case number
- NYC03LA046
- Dataset
- historical-pre2008
- Source SHA-256
- 89e2df6d848e7ab3b42e7d7c7a03ff403303057a26ca04c95b3ea67201c3ce74
Source notes (4)
- Unreviewed is an editorial label, not an investigation status. API-sourced is not report-checked or human-reviewed. Explicit event totals are used without summing aircraft injury tables; onboard allocation is withheld. Unknown values remain unknown. The operation category is mapped from the NTSB-reported FAR part and has not been reviewed.
- Filled from the NTSB case API where the bulk record had no value: investigation status, coordinates. Values present in the bulk record are kept.
- The date is the local date, which is the same as the UTC date the NTSB stores.
- API snapshot SHA-256: ee34c7e04f0480235e563f6a66a8278a68b6766dba59f68b535992fee8313e5a; retrieved 2026-09-18T15:55:19.719Z.