Terrifying footage shows Navy sailor getting sucked into jet and miraculously surviving
Topics: Military, Technology
Emily Brown
Featured Image Credit: YouTube/Mister_Rooster
Topics: Military, Technology
Horrifying footage shows the moment a 21-year-old Navy sailor was sucked into a jet engine - but miraculously, he managed to survive the ordeal.
Planes might look tiny when we look up at them in the sky, but walking past them on the tarmac tells a different story.
Even smaller jets need a good engine to get them up in the air, and the huge blades that make up the engine definitely aren't to be messed with.
Obviously people who work with planes are aware of this, but that's not to say accidents don't happen.
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See one terrifying example below:
Navy sailor John Bridges had been working to complete a pre-takeoff check on a plane when he suddenly found himself sucked into its engine, prompting others on the scene to rush to his rescue.
Bridges, a 21-year-old flight deck crewman, had been deployed to support Operation Desert Storm in 1991, and was working on the plane in the early hours of the morning ahead of a planned precision strike mission.
Footage from the scene shows Bridges and his co-worker, Michael McDonald, completing their checks, with Bridges' tasked with carrying out his last check - making sure the aircraft was connected to a catapult on the USS Theodore Roosevelt for takeoff.
The sailor checked where the launching mechanism was, but when he began to move away he found his coat, goggles, helmet and tools ripped from him as he was lifted off the ground.
His clothes and equipment were sucked into the engine first, causing a large explosion which rang out just as Bridges himself was pulled into the jet.
According to Military.com, jet engine turbines are usually capable of turning anything other than air into a 'fine goo' as they spin anywhere from 1,000 to 20,000 rotations per minute.
Bridges' helmet and equipment did get shredded in the engine, but thankfully it was those objects that helped save his life.
The pilot of the plane immediately felt the foreign objects in the engine and turned it off, though it took about three minutes before they shut down completely.
In the meantime, Bridges had been able to use his arm to wedge himself in the walls of the engine, thanks to the fact the engine intake on that particular plane wasn't very big.
He was able to prevent himself from being sucked into the blades as they shut down, and thankfully walked away with only a few injuries.
The sailor suffered a broken collarbone, a blown eardrum and some cuts and scrapes, but most importantly he had his life.