EasyJet pilot falls from aircraft at Edinburgh !!!

From the Daily Record.

PILOT CRITICAL AFTER FALL FROM JET

A pilot who plunged from his aircraft while trying to shut a door was critically ill in hospital last night. Pilot Ken Rutherford slipped while closing the door in strong winds and fell 15ft to the tarmac at Edinburgh Airport. Horrified crew members saw the pilot lying on the ground bleeding. He was taken by ambulance to Edinburgh Royal Infirmary and last night his condition was described as “critical but stable”.

His wife Shirley was in the family home in Colinton, Edinburgh with their two young children. She said “He has back injuries and is badly bruised but I have spoken to him now. He said just a few words. “I’m not really sure what happened, but I believe he was closing the fuselage door, to do that you have to remove the safety rail from the top of the steps and that is when he fell”. “I don’t know whether it was because of the high wind”. Mr Rutherford, 46, had just flown the Boeing 737 from Luton on Saturday. The accident happened around 3pm, shortly after 80 passengers disembarked. He was leaving the aircraft at the end of his shift and other crew were preparing for the return flight.

One woman who works at the airport and saw the fall said the staff were shocked at what had happened. She said ” We heard a cry and looked around and he was lying on the tarmac below the boarding steps” “A load of us ran over, when we got there there was blood coming from his mouth and the back of his head. It was terrible, I can’t understand why he was manning the doors, it’s usually down to the stewards or cabin crew to do that”.

A spokesperson for EasyJet confirmed an enquiry into the accident would be caried out, and safety procedures would be looked at. She said ” The doors are normally shut by staff flight crew or cabin crew but pilots will shut them if they are the last to leave the aircraft”.