Stephanie Cosme, 32, was killed last year when she inadvertently walked into the rotating propeller of an aircraft in California

Stephanie Cosme, 32, was killed last year when she inadvertently walked into the rotating propeller of an aircraft in California

A US air force civilian contractor had become disoriented recording data at an airport in California last year when she walked into a jet’s rotating propeller and was killed, officials said on Friday.

In a statement outlining the findings of a report into the contractor’s death, the air force materiel command said that 32-year-old Stephanie Cosme was mortally injured on 7 September when she inadvertently walked into the rotating propeller of an MQ-9A that was parked at Gray Butte airfield.

  • Fal@yiffit.netEnglish
    195·
    7 months ago

    There are all kinds of civilians working for the military. This isn’t some active war zone where she stepped on a land mine. Every civilian doing work on an airport tar mac doesn’t require a military member holding their hand to tell them not to walk into spinning proppellers. Blaming this on the military vs just an unfortunate accident is just ridiculous

      • Fal@yiffit.netEnglish
        13·
        7 months ago

        That doesn’t make you right. That’s very different from expecting a military member to follow her around to keep her safe. The training likely would have come from the contracting company she was working for, not the military

        • EmpricornEnglish
          11·
          7 months ago

          My comment/edit was really more of an update on the incident than a vindication of my initial reaction, though there’s some of that too.

          You wrote:

          Blaming this on the military vs just an unfortunate accident is just ridiculous

          That’s false. Even the military themself admitted as much. Facts matter…

    • EmpricornEnglish
      712·
      7 months ago

      EDIT: I was right:

      https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/apr/05/us-air-force-contractor-death-stephanie-cosme

      I don’t think anyone’s claiming it was during the chaos of wartime, but it was an active airfield. So yes, it’s their responsibility to limit access, keep track of everyone, and keep both pedestrians and vehicles/aircraft safe.

      the air force materiel command accident investigation board said it found two causes for the incident.

      “First,” the board said, “the test engineer was incorrectly instructed or trained on how to take telemetry readings when approaching the MQ-9A while the engine was running. Second, she lost situational awareness while walking around the mishap aircraft taking telemetry readings with a hand-held measurement device.”

      • Cyyris@infosec.pub
        152·
        7 months ago

        I guarantee she had access lol. Getting access to a flight line is not as difficult as you’re making it out to be.

        If her job duties included…you know, being on the flight line (as it sounds like her contract absolutely was,) all she had to do was get the SMO to verify her clearance, verify her job duties, assign her a RAB, and she’s good to go. Guaranteed she had all of the correct clearances and authorizations.

        If you’ve got access to the area, nobody is going to follow you around and “keep track of everyone.”

        I know this because I had all of this access as a civilian contractor when working on a military installation.

          • Cyyris@infosec.pub
            4·
            7 months ago

            Now that does not shock me in the least. The contract I worked for the USAF was to provide IT services.

            You know how many usable SOPs or process guides they had available to train us with? None. Not a single one. We recreated each and every process after having to fumble through it ourselves.

            There’s so much transition in the USAF that unless you have a civilian or contractor working alongside the uniformed workers, it only takes like one or two PCS cycles until there’s not a single person left that remembers the processes unless they’re written down in a detailed SOP (that is updated regularly.)

            • EmpricornEnglish
              11·
              7 months ago

              That’s interesting. I also have to poke fun at the use of 5 acronyms used. Military + IT = Acronym Endgame Boss.

              So how did you get access to military contacts anyway? Do I need to find a company that will get me those clearances?

              • Cyyris@infosec.pub
                3·
                7 months ago

                Ah…yeah, whoops 😅. IT & Military definitely love their acronyms!

                But you’ve got it pretty much spot on! Just keep an eye out for the various companies that are winning defense contracts; I usually keep an eye out on this site to see what’s going on out there: https://news.clearancejobs.com/category/defense-contracts/

                Once you find one you’re interested in, the job listing will usually tell you it requires a certain level of clearance. Depending on the job, some will expect you to already have said clearance, but most will not. The company will apply for your clearance on your behalf, referencing the contract that you’ve been hired for. Then you get to go through the extremely fun process of a 30+ page background check, where you get to go through the last ten years of your life. Where you lived, who knew you at those addresses, where you’ve been out of the country, jobs you’ve held, etc. The very first one I did was in my early 20’s, so going back 10 years I was filling in my parents address when I was still in high school! It’s really not that bad, but they definitely ask a lot of off-the-wall stuff.

                You’ll usually get an “interim” clearance a few months after you apply, which will allow you to do your work, but you’ll get your final clearance after about a year or so (assuming everything checks out.) Once you’ve got it, you keep it for 5 years, and it’ll automatically be renewed as long as your job requires it, and it can be transferred between companies if they require you to have a clearance.