Texas Model Has 'Long Road to Recovery' After Walking Into Plane Propeller

[DefiantSix]

Texas Model Has 'Long Road to Recovery' After Walking Into Plane Propeller

Published December 06, 2011 | FoxNews.com

A fashion model and magazine editor was recovering in a hospital Tuesday after severing her hand and suffering severe facial injuries when she walked into a spinning airplane propeller in north Texas.

Witnesses said that Lauren Scruggs, 23, had just stepped off the plane at a private airport in McKinney, Texas, on Saturday night when she apparently walked in front of the propeller. She was taken by helicopter to the hospital, where she underwent several surgeries over the weekend.

Surgeons had to amputate Scruggs' left hand, and the accident caused severe damage to her shoulder and head, the New York Post reported.

Scruggs, who lives in Plano, Texas, is the editor of the online fashion magazine LOLO and has also worked in the costume department of the show "Gossip Girl."

Speaking to “Good Morning America” Tuesday, Scruggs’ parents said they weren’t sure exactly what happened when she walked into the propeller, but that they believed she was going to thank the pilot when the accident occurred.

<snip>

I hope she'll recover as best as her injuries will permit, but DAY-UM, people, this is what we pilots hate the most about having non-fliers within a hundred yards of our equipment. The one I really feel for is the pilot who is going to have that image of this pretty idiot walking into his prop for the rest of his days.

[Revolution]

Dear Lord....

What's her DU name?

[NHSparky]

Not just another pretty face anymore.

[DumbAss Tanker]

It's a miracle she even survived.

[DefiantSix]

It's a miracle she even survived.

Many don't.  Propellers are most unforgiving of even the slightest disrespect.

[Freeper]

She can no longer be a model, her face is too plane. 

[DixieBelle]

OMG Freeper!!!!

I had a flashback to that episode of E.R. where the doc loses his arm from a propeller on a 'copter. I think they ended up killing him off near the end by DROPPING a 'copter on him.

[FreeBorn]

Beauty is only skin deep but props go right to the bone.

[Boudicca]

It used to really irritate me when the pilot/loadmaster/whoever would yell at me (and all the other packs) boarding and disembarking the plane/helo to watch the propeller/rotor blades.  I guess it was to prevent something like this from happening.  Glad she survived and really, at 23, my kids were idiots, my husband was an idiot, I was an idiot, etc.  It's a wonder any of us survive to true maturity.

[Airwolf]

Walking near any aircraft is dangerous. One of the first things I learned in the 101st was to watch out for the tail rotors and main rotors on the Helos. It also didn't help tha by the time I went from the National Guard to Active Duty the Army had already lost 6 UH-60's for different reasons.

[DumbAss Tanker]

It's a wonder any of us survive to true maturity.

Yes, yes it is.  Not that I'm complaining, mind you.

[compaqxp]

Lets hope she has people who will prop her up during this difficult time.

[olde north church]

Perhaps she only want to go out for a quick spin?

[JohnnyReb]

I just remembered something and checked the index finger on my right hand for scars...they're gone. For years I had 3 scars from hand cranking a model airplane motor where a nylon 10/6 prop cut my finger to the bone. When I was younger and DUmber, I prop started a few airplanes...J3 Cub....A Liscomb...a Ryan PT-22 and one other I can't remember.

I have a distant cousin who has an airstrip about a mile from here that used to start his plane by hand all the time. He would set everything and pull it thru a few times. Then he would flip the switch and stand behind the prop. He would snatch the wooden prop in the wrong direction then it would fire, kick back in the right direction and begin running. Can't remember what the heck he was flying at that time....damn senior moments.

[DefiantSix]

Here's an update on this story:

Texas Model Loses Eye From Horrific Propeller Accident
Published December 15, 2011 | NewsCore

Lauren Scruggs, 23, suffered multiple injuries earlier this month after walking directly into the propeller of a small plane following a flight to see an aerial view of Christmas lights with a friend. The blades sliced the left side of her face, including her eye and cranial nerve, and severed her left hand.

Her family said in a blog post on their CaringBridge page that they had been "praying for a miracle" as they waited for Scruggs' left eye to heal. But the model ultimately needed to have her eye removed and replaced with a prosthesis.

Her family wrote that Wednesday's operation at the Parkland Hospital in Dallas went "unbelievably well," though they asked for continued support.

"Along with the pain she was already experiencing with her arm and shoulder injuries, the removal of the left [eye] is also very painful," the blog entry read. "We are asking again for prayer to relieve this pain, and also, as we have posted previously, pray for Lo to regain her appetite. This is crucial for her body to heal quickly."
<snip>

[DefiantSix]

Report: Pilot Tried to Warn Passenger About Propeller
Published : Tuesday, 17 Jan 2012, 7:08 AM CST | By Alice Wolke | MYFOXDFW.COM

MCKINNEY, Texas - The NTSB released a preliminary report about what happened the night a young woman accidentally walked into a propeller last month in McKinney.

<snip>

The pilot admits he landed and left the prop running as Scruggs began to get out of the plane.

"Upon noticing that she was exiting in front of the strut, the pilot leaned out of his seat and placed his right hand and arm in front of her to divert her away from the front of the airplane and the propeller," the report states.

The pilot says he told Scruggs she should walk behind the airplane.

When she was beyond the strut attached to the wing, the pilot sat back up, and asked out his left-side window who was flying next.

That's when he heard someone yell, "STOP STOP," according to the report, and saw the passenger lying on the runway.

This chick must've drove a Porche because she had a hard time spelling "BMW".   

[IassaFTots]

I heard the interview with the pilot today, as this is local news here.  I wonder if it had been an everyday joe, instead of a model, if we would have heard about this story daily.  There was some big fundraiser for her just recently. 

[Gina]

Not just another pretty face anymore.

cut off her nose to spite her face? 

[Gina]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2088730/Lauren-Scruggs-accident-Model-appears-public-losing-hand-eye.html

[DefiantSix]

Stupid SCRUNT!!!

Model Injured By Airplane Propeller Rejects Settlement Offer
Insurance Company Had Put $200,000 On The Table
Fri, Mar 30, 2012

The model and blogger who walked into a moving airplane propeller after exiting the aircraft has rejected a $200,000 settlement offer from the company that insured the airplane.

Lauren Scruggs, a blogger and model who lives in Texas, had been on a sightseeing flight with a friend around Christmas time to views lights from the air. After the flight, she exited the airplane and walked into the still-turning propeller. She lost an eye and a hand in the accident.

Fox News reports she is suing the plane's owner Shell Aviation and company owner Michael Shell, as well as Aggressive Insurance Services which wrote Shell's policy, and pilot Curt Richmond, according to court documents reproduced by the Dallas Morning News website. The suit was filed in the Dallas County Court.

Aggressive reportedly made a verbal offer to Scruggs based on her status as a passenger on the airplane. The policy has a $100,000 per passenger limit on liability. But in the court filing, Scruggs and her father Jeff, who is a co-plaintiff, say that since she was outside the airplane when the accident occurred, she was not a passenger so the limit does not apply. The case will apparently turn on a determination of when someone is no longer considered a passenger in an airplane.

<snip>

I'm not holding my breath, but I hope this stupid bitch gets laughed out of court.

[Wineslob]

Stupid SCRUNT!!!

I'm not holding my breath, but I hope this stupid bitch gets laughed out of court.

With the idiots in the legal system, good luck with that.

[DefiantSix]

With the idiots in the legal system, good luck with that.

Like I said, I'm  not holding my breath for that outcome.

[TVDOC]

The only issue that I can find with this whole sorry affair is, since I've flown light/medium/some heavy twin-engine aircraft for many years, as a practical matter, on a turnaround, I was always careful to keep the engine running (if necessary) on the opposite side of the aircraft from where passengers embark/disembark for this exact reason.

One engine running keeps the air conditioning, lighting, avionics and other systems operating for a rapid departure, and shortens the pre-takeoff checklist considerably.......I never allowed the cabin door to be opened on the same side of the aircraft with a rotating prop.

It's tough enough to keep an eye on where ramp personnel are, and they are supposedly trained (or one would assume), let alone passengers........and on more than one occasion, I've seen ramp personnel nearly walk into a prop inadvertently.

doc

[DefiantSix]

The only issue that I can find with this whole sorry affair is, since I've flown light/medium/some heavy twin-engine aircraft for many years, as a practical matter, on a turnaround, I was always careful to keep the engine running (if necessary) on the opposite side of the aircraft from where passengers embark/disembark for this exact reason.

One engine running keeps the air conditioning, lighting, avionics and other systems operating for a rapid departure, and shortens the pre-takeoff checklist considerably.......I never allowed the cabin door to be opened on the same side of the aircraft with a rotating prop.

It's tough enough to keep an eye on where ramp personnel are, and they are supposedly trained (or one would assume), let alone passengers........and on more than one occasion, I've seen ramp personnel nearly walk into a prop inadvertently.

doc

If I remember the original story correctly, the ship in question was a Cessna 172.  Only one engine to keep running, and - apparently unbeknownst to this dim bulb - the engine doesn't change location on the aircraft very often.

[TVDOC]

If I remember the original story correctly, the ship in question was a Cessna 172.  Only one engine to keep running, and - apparently unbeknownst to this dim bulb - the engine doesn't change location on the aircraft very often.

Well.....if that's the case, the passenger door on a C-172 opens aft of  the lift strut (the assist step is on the back of the strut mount on the gearleg), so the idiot would have to walk around the starboard main landing gear, half-way down the length of the wing (because that big-assed strut is in the way), make a left, ducking under the wing, make another left, and walk back into the spinning prop.......

Sounds like Darwin Award material to me......

doc