Originally Posted by dboyd001

..... I was on the USS Theodore Roosevelt during Desert Storm and one of our flight deck guys wasn't paying attention and got sucked into the port engine intake of an E-6C Intruder (probably have seen the video of it on TV). He was lucky... bruised as hell, wicked headache, cuts, abrasions and his ears were ringing for a week. His cranial (helmet) was sucked off quickly and fouled the engine, shutting it down. That's the only reason he survived. I was on medical duty that night so I got to do one of the first exams on him. He was kind of in shock from it as anyone would be shaking like a leaf. He was conscious, but really out of it.
..... More than a decade earlier I was on the USS America in the Tonkin Gulf (off Viet Nam if you don't know). Another flight deck crew was careless, not paying attention and he got sucked into and A-7C intake. Those little A-7s were not known as "mankillers" for nothing. Even though the engine shut down quickly, about all that was not ground meat were his legs. I had the bad fortune as it were to be on the flight deck and was immediately called, but as you can guess, there was nothing I could do for the guy. Sad thing was this was the last week of flight ops before we were relieved on station with a port visit in Sydney, Australia and then home (with a port visit in Rio de Janeiro, Brasil... WOO HOO!)
..... Flight decks are dangerous places, even being careful. The week before I arrived to the America they lost a plane chief who (as usual not paying attention) walked into the spinning prop of an E-3C.
Dave (I got all my injuries in other ways)