Chicago Express Airlines Flight 3491

A ramp services employee sustained serious injuries when he was struck by a rotating propeller blade while conducting arrival activities after the air carrier flight had parked at the gate. The airplane was not damaged. The captain of the flight reported that he had shut down the left (No. 1) engine prior to arrival at the gate. He parked the airplane normally and when he was notified that the wheels chocks had been installed he feathered the right (No. 2) engine propeller. After the cabin door was opened, the captain noted that he heard "three or four quick thumps" and received a signal from ramp personnel to shut down the right (No. 2) engine. When he exited the aircraft he saw the ramp service employee lying beneath the aircraft. An employee on the ramp stated that the ramp employee involved walked outside of the left wing with two chocks toward the nose of the aircraft. She reported that he walked to the nose landing gear, slowed down, and then continued walking around to the other side of the aircraft. She noted that she was unable to determine his distance from the right (No. 2) engine propeller. She stated that she heard the "sound of something hit the [propeller]" and she saw the individual "flip and land on the ground." The ramp services employee involved was hired approximately one month prior to the accident. He had received one week of general training, followed by specific training and mentoring at his assigned work location. In a statement prepared after the accident, the mentor assigned to the individual involved reported that he was specifically trained to chock the main landing gear by approaching from the rear. The mentor also stated that he never observed the individual install main landing gear chocks by approaching from the front of the aircraft. The mentoring program was to be continued until the individual was proficient in all required tasks. According to the airline station manager, a mentor was to supervise the individual in training during ramp operations.

Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset