Airline worker crushed to death by landing gear after getting stuck in plane door

Man was just 22 years old

An airline engineer was killed when he was crushed in the landing gear door of an aircraft.

Rohit Pandey, 22, was working on a SpiceJet Bombardier Q400 jet at Kolkata’s Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport when the hydraulic door holding the landing gear closed and he got trapped between the flaps.

The incident occurred at around 1.30am this morning, according to local media.

Police are investigating to determine whether the death was a result of “a technical glitch or the result of someone’s callousness", reports India Today.

SpiceJet, an Indian low-cost airline, said in a statement: “We are extremely saddened to share that our technician Mr Rohit Pandey passed away last night in an unfortunate incident at the Kolkata airport.

“Mr Pandey was doing maintenance work in right hand main landing gear wheel well area of a Q400 aircraft which was parked in Bay No. 32 at Kolkata airport on 10 July 2019.”

The statement continues: “The hydraulic doors were broken to rescue Mr Pandey but he was declared dead.

“The entire SpiceJet family stands together in grief in this unfortunate incident.”

The incident comes just a week after a Spicejet aircraft skidded off the runway at Mumbai airport when it landed in heavy rains.

Flight SG6237, which was flying from Jaipur in Rajasthan, overran the runway upon landing at Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj airport.

No passengers or crew were injured and everyone was evacuated safely, local media reported.