A 37-year-old photographer has died after she backed into a plane’s spinning propeller in Kansas, officials have confirmed.
Amanda Gallagher was photographing groups of skydivers on Saturday afternoon at Air Capital Drop Zone, near Wichita, when the tragic accident occurred.
According to the skydiving business, she had travelled up in the air to take pictures of a group and road the plane back down after all the skydivers had made their jumps.
Back on the ground, she got out of the Cessna 182 and moved around to a dangerous area of the plane, while it was still running.
“For unknown reasons … she moved in front of the wing, a violation of basic safety procedures,” Air Capital Drop Zone said in a statement to ABC News. “With her camera up to shoot photos as she did so, she stepped back slightly moving toward and into the spinning propeller.”
Gallagher was critically injured, and transported to a local hospital where she later died, local NBC affiliate KSNW reported.
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A post on the Cook Airfield Facebook page, where the incident took place, would not speculate about the circumstances surrounding the incident.
“Our hearts go out to the family and friends of the young lady who died yesterday,” they wrote in their post.
A GoFundMe was set up by Gallagher’s family, describing her as “kind, adventurous, creative and beautiful inside and out.”
“She was a loving daughter, sister, aunt and friend and will be greatly missed.”
So far, the fundraiser has amassed more than US$16,000 in donations, which will used to cover funeral expenses.
The GoFundMe message also noted that Gallagher died “doing what she loved, skydiving and taking pictures.”
The FAA and National Transportation Safety Board are investigating.
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