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22 January, 2020

Investigation underway after flight attendant falls from parked plane

HELSINKI, FINLAND - OCTOBER 24, 2019: Airplanes in the apron and on taxi ways at Helsinki Vantaa international airport on a cloudy autumn day.

A Finnair flight attendant has been seriously injured after falling out the door of a parked aircraft.

The incident occurred on 13 January at the Helsinki-Vaantaa Airport, Finland’s Safety Investigation Authority said, following the Airbus A320’s arrival from Oulu in northern Finland.

“After the flight, the aircraft was parked in the outer row of the apron,” investigator-in-charge Janne Kotiranta said. “The passengers had safely exited the aircraft using the boarding steps and entered the bus.

“The staircase vehicle had backed up slightly away from the aircraft but was still very close to it. The rear door was closed after the passengers had exited and was soon reopened after closing,” the investigator said.

“The crew member opening the door fell through the gap between the boarding steps and the aircraft to the ground and was injured.”

Air traffic controller (ret.) Lars Levo has been appointed as the head of the investigation team, alongside commercial pilot (ret.) Heikki Kasurinen, safety investigator Juho Posio and chief safety investigator of aviation accidents Janne Kotiranta.

The investigation will be completed in approximately six months, with the goal of identifying the recommendations with which corresponding accidents can be avoided, professor Veli-Pekka Nurmi, director of Safety Investigation Authority, Finland, said.

Travel Weekly has contacted Finnair for comment. However, in a statement to The Independent, the airline said the employee had been “seriously injured” and “transported to hospital”.

“This is a rare and very unfortunate event. For privacy reasons we cannot comment further,” Finnair told the outlet.

“The Safety Investigation Authority is conducting an independent investigation as per usual. Finnair takes all occupational safety issues seriously and will investigate the events leading to this occurrence to ensure this will not happen again.”

Featured image: Airplanes in the apron and on taxiways at Helsinki Vantaa international airport on a cloudy autumn day (iStock.com/william87)

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