Cessna 182 N2364G accident near Caddo Mills, Texas

Probable cause

The failure of the operator to ensure that the airplane engine was shutdown during passenger unloading and the lack of adequate supervision of the passenger by the pilot and ground crewmember.

NTSB analysis

The airplane landed from a skydiving flight with a remaining passenger after three parachutists had jumped from the airplane. The engine was not shut down and the airplane was pointed toward the vehicle waiting for the passenger to deplane. When the passenger exited the airplane, a ground crewmember leaned toward the airplane to talk to the pilot while the passenger went around the right side of the airplane. The passenger walked forward into the rotating propeller. Federal Aviation Administration guidance information states that stopping the engine is the most effective way to ensure passengers arrive and depart the vicinity of an airplane safely. When necessary to discharge a passenger from an aircraft on which an engine is running, it advises that the pilot should never stop the aircraft with the propeller in the path of the passenger’s route from the aircraft.

Text from the NTSB. Open the NTSB docket for CEN09LA525 for the full record.