Florida Woman’s Arm Cut Off, Foot Severed by Plane Propeller

A Florida woman’s arm was reportedly cut off and her foot severed when she was struck by an airplane propeller at the Key West International Airport.

Reports said Rebecca Lynn Gray, 45, was a passenger on a private plane that’s pilot was her husband, Walter Gray, 46, when the incident occurred at around 8:45 p.m. on Saturday.

Authorities said the two were preparing to taxi in the plane when her husband discovered it would not move.

“He got out, while the plane was still running, to check to see if the plane’s tires were still in the wheel chocks, the wedges of sturdy material put against a plane’s wheels to prevent accidental movement. He told his wife to stay in the plane but she got out,” according to the Miami Herald.

The report said Gray told his wife not to come around to the front of the plane, but she did anyway and went to move one of the chocks away from the plane’s tires and was hit by its propellers.

Reports said the Key West Fire Rescue rushed her to the Lower Keys Medical Center on Stock Island, then flew the injured woman to the Jackson Memorial Ryder Trauma Center in Miami once it was determined that she was in stable condition.

Reports said the incident is currently being investigated by the Florida Highway Patrol.

In March 2017, a similar instance occurred when a man in Brady Township, Michigan, died a few days after he was hit in the head by an airplane propeller.

Reports said that 52-year-old Michael Westveer of Vicksburg was reportedly trying to hand-crank his airplane’s propeller at a private airstrip when he was struck. The Kalamazoo County Sheriff’s Department said they found Westveer in a field nearby when a friend said he did not show up for their planned meeting.