In a tragic turn of events at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport, the Royal Marechaussee (Koninklijke Marechaussee, KMar) has determined that the death of a man who was sucked into an aircraft engine was a deliberate act of suicide. The deceased was an employee of a service company operating at the airport. The Royal Dutch Police have announced that they will not be providing further details respecting the privacy of the man’s family.
The incident occurred on May 29, 2024, involving a KLM Cityhopper Embraer E190, registered as PH-EZL. This aircraft had just completed its pushback and was preparing for departure when the man tragically fell into the running engine. The aircraft was due to fly from Amsterdam to Billund Airport on flight KL1341. Subsequently, the aircraft was taken out of operation, and a replacement aircraft, registered as PH-EZM, covered the scheduled route.
The aircraft involved has remained grounded since the incident, as indicated by tracking data from Flightradar24. According to aviation records from ch-aviation, the Embraer E190, powered by two General Electric CF34-10E engines, was first delivered to KLM’s regional subsidiary on January 21, 2010. As of February 28, 2019, it had logged over 21,980 flight hours and 18,873 flight cycles.
KLM Cityhopper’s fleet consists of 65 aircraft, including different variants of the Embraer E-jets or E2 aircraft family—comprising 17 Embraer E175, 29 E190, and 18 E195-E2 aircraft, with seating configurations of 88, 100, and 132 respectively.
This incident echoes a similar tragedy in the United States where, in December 2022, an employee of Piedmont Airlines was fatally injured after being drawn into an engine of an Envoy Air Embraer E175 at Montgomery Regional Airport. The National Transportation Safety Board’s preliminary report noted that the employee was “pulled off her feet and into the operating engine,” highlighting the dangers faced by ground crew in the proximity of active aircraft engines.