If you have not read the story, here is the link;

https://www.yahoo.com/news/jet...lands-065353674.html

My question, is it possible for a human body to damage a plane that much? What speed does a 737 touch down at, 120mph or so?

There is obviously a huge dent on the leading edge. And it is hard to tell from the picture, but is the aluminum separated towards the bottom? Maybe something (clothing?) is stuck in the separation?

Looks like shredded clothing and dripping tissue.

quote:

Originally posted by holdem:
My question, is it possible for a human body to damage a plane that much? What speed does a 737 touch down at, 120mph or so?

Deer lighter than humans can do major damage to a typical vehicle on the road.

Figure an avg American human male, at 170-220lbs, plane lands around 150-160 knots/180 mph, rapidly decelerates and hits said human...sure, that damage is very plausible. That worker is likely in pieces given how violent the impact along the engine cowling.

Other than the obvious dent, I think the lighting/shadows might be making it look worse than it is.

quote:

Originally posted by holdem:
My question, is it possible for a human body to damage a plane that much? What speed does a 737 touch down at, 120mph or so?

I have a friend who has property that borders the SE side of OIA. The airport authority is starting to really worry about the feral hog population in the area fearing a 200/300 pound hog is going to make it onto one of the runways and damage a plane on landing or take off (apparently not enough though to let us hunt the area). As such, I would imagine a person might be able to do enough damage to place a plane at risk.

A couple of FL pigs took out an F-16 back in 1988.

https://apnews.com/2b0b95d48dbf308f824745cc74ec2f2e

How the heck did someone actually get on the runway? I thought that was just about impossible nowadays.

I'm glad no one no one on board was hurt.

The plane taxied to a gate, everybody got off and no one on board was hurt, Southwest said. The plane was carrying 53 passengers and five crew members.

Was it a suicide?

Austin police told the station the dead person wasn't dressed as an airport worker and didn't have any identification.

The FAA said it would assist Austin police in the investigation of the incident.

quote:

Originally posted by bigdeal:

quote:

Originally posted by holdem:
My question, is it possible for a human body to damage a plane that much? What speed does a 737 touch down at, 120mph or so?

I have a friend who has property that borders the SE side of OIA. The airport authority is starting to really worry about the feral hog population in the area fearing a 200/300 pound hog is going to make it onto one of the runways and damage a plane on landing or take off (apparently not enough though to let us hunt the area). As such, I would imagine a person might be able to do enough damage to place a plane at risk.

so we might see some flying pigs at OIA....

The linked article states that this happened at 8:12 pm. That would be after sunset, so that explains why the control tower operators might not have seen the pedestrian, and why the pilots of the 737 might not have seen him until too late to avoid.

Other questions are open though, how did this person slip through security and get to the runway area? Who is he, and why was he not carrying any identification?

I have had a couple of adrenaline moments landing at night, once with a deer that decided to cross the runway just as I touched down, another time with horses that I did not see until I had descended to maybe 20' above the runway, but both of these were at rural airports with no control towers, and no security of any kind.

quote:

Originally posted by V-Tail:

...Other questions are open though, how did this person slip through security and get to the runway area? Who is he, and why was he not carrying any identification?...

This airport was originally Bergstrom AFB, closed under BRAC 25+ years ago and converted into the city/regional jetport. There's probably a fence around the entire base perimeter, but it's possible the runways within are not fenced 100%.

https://www.airnav.com/airport/KAUS

quote:

Originally posted by holdem:

What speed does a 737 touch down at, 120mph or so?

Touchdown speed varies, faster at higher weights. These days, with light loads, it might be around 130 knots (150 mph) indicated air speed. Subtract the headwind component to get ground speed, so for example, with a 12 knot surface wind blowing right down the runway, ground speed at touchdown, before braking and reverse thrust, might be right around 135 mph.

Think about the tires, spinning up to that speed almost instantaneously. No wonder that a tire for the V-Tail goes for three hundred bucks or so. I have no idea what a tire for a 737 costs.

Maybe the pedestrian saw Pushing Tin and wanted to try this:





Link to original video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6yfb_usoubg

Tough way to catch a flight!

At ~150 knots it may as well be a sack of wet concrete.

This is completely unacceptable. The government needs to stop all air flights until the airlines can prove this can never happen again.

If it saves just one life...

quote:

Originally posted by Fenris:
This is completely unacceptable. The government needs to stop all air flights until the airlines can prove this can never happen again.

If it saves just one life...

Governor Cuomo, nice to see you on Sig Forum!

737 coming out of the sky
Won't you take me down to Memphis on a midnight ride
I want to move, yeah

I wonder what Austin’s homeless population is like around the airport?

It's over in a shit area, that old Airport, on the very edge of Austin in my mind.