Don't leave your clipboard on the engine intake

[RooFlyer]

Oh, dear: Jetstar A320 flight forced to return after clipboard ingested into engine

A Sydney-bound flight was forced to return to Auckland Airport after a clipboard, placed in an aircraft engine to keep paperwork dry, was inadvertently left there when the plane took off.

The leading hand, responsible for loading of baggage and freight containers on board the aircraft, had intended to shelter his paperwork from the rain temporarily by placing his clipboard in the engine, according to a report into the October 27 incident by the Australian Transport and Safety Bureau.

But the leading hand only noticed his clipboard was missing when the aircraft was taxiing, at which point ground crew noticed paper debris ground.

“As it was raining, he decided to put the clipboard in the right engine cowling to stop his paperwork from becoming wet and blown by the wind, with the intention to retrieve it later,” the investigation report said.

Prior to taking off, plane was cleared by the dispatcher who noticed the clipboard during her duty of care walk around, assuming the leading hand would return for the clipboard.

“The dispatcher stated that she did not view the clipboard as a foreign object as it belonged to the leading hand and had the paperwork for the flight,” the report said.

“She assumed that the leading hand would retrieve it later, prior to engine start-up.”

When the ground crew realized the debris where they had been preparing the plane, an Auckland air traffic controller told the captain that a piece of sheared metal had been found by ground crew, as the captain tried to establish whether it was just paperwork or a clipboard with a metal clip that had been sucked into the right engine of the ill-fated Jetstar A320.

 

[DC3]

Jetstar A320 flight forced to return after clipboard ingested into engine

That seems to be a subscription link. Here's another article:

Clipboard rips through Jetstar engine before plane takes off from Auckland

 

[Quickstatus]

Human error is incurable