On 7 September 2023, Stephanie Cosme, a civilian contractor working with the United States Air Force at Gray Butte Airfield, California, was fatally injured and killed in the line of duty. She died at the hospital she was airlifted to shortly after arriving.
According to the accident report, she was taking readings from a handheld device when she walked into a “spinning propeller” of a MQ-9A drone propeller, as described in the report. She had checked in with the crew chief, but not in with anyone else. So no one on the line knew who she was or what she was doing there.
Apparently there were safety briefings, but nothing states that she was in stated that Stephanie was in said safety briefings. The report also said that the propellers may have been hidden from view at certain angles, so she may have not seen the propeller when she got too close.
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