A photographer suffered a horrifying death when she backed into an airplane propeller while taking pictures.
Passengers near the plane witnessed the death of the experienced travel photographer at a Kansas airfield, according to reports.
Around 2.40 p.m. Saturday, Amanda Gallagher, 37, was taking photos at an airfield just outside of Wichita when she hit the plane’s propeller while the aircraft was on the ground, according to the Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Office.
Gallagher was rushed to hospital, where she was later pronounced dead.
Air Capital Drop Zone, a Kansas-based skydiving company, said on Monday that Gallagher was booked as an observer to take photos while on one of its flights.
“After the airplane landed, for unknown reasons, as the next group of jumpers were boarding, she moved in front of the wing, a violation of basic safety procedures,” the statement said, NBC reports.
“With her camera up to shoot photos as she did so, she stepped back slightly moving toward and into the spinning propeller.”
Gallagher owned her own photography company, AG Photography, and would capture pictures of others’ skydiving experiences, as well as taking photos of her travels.
Cook Airfield, a privately-owned airport in Kansas where the incident took place, confirmed her death and issued a statement saying its “hearts go out to the family and friends after a tragic accident with an airplane propeller.”
“I wasn’t there when it happened, so I will not speculate on what could have or should have happened differently,” officials from the airfield wrote.
“Just please keep her family, her friends and her Air Capital Drop Zone family in your prayers and thoughts.”
A GoFundMe has been set up to help raise money for Gallagher’s funeral expenses. The page described her death as a “very sad accident” and that she was “doing what she loved, skydiving and taking pictures”.
“Amanda Gallagher was kind, adventurous, creative and beautiful inside and out,” the page reads. “She was a loving daughter, sister, aunt and friend and will be greatly missed.”
The Federal Aviation Administration and the US Transportation Safety Board are both investigating her death.
