Woman Dies After Freak Airplane Propeller Accident While Taking Photos

A Kansas woman met a grisly end in a freak accident after she backed into an airplane propeller while taking photos, multiple outlets have reported.

On Oct. 26 at approximately 2:40 p.m., 37-year-old Amanda Gallagher was taking photos at the Air Capital Drop Zone in Derby, KS when she accidentally backed into a running propeller. Gallagher was critically injured and transported to a local hospital, where she later died. Witnesses say that Gallagher was taking photos of people getting on and off of planes when the accident occurred. Gallagher owned her own photography business, AG Photography, through which she documented her world travels and activities at the Capital Drop Zone.

Abbey Charboneau, a friend of Gallagher’s who organized a GoFundMe to assist her family with funeral expenses, said that Gallagher died “doing what she loved, skydiving and taking pictures.” Charboneau continued: “Amanda Gallagher was kind, adventurous, creative, and beautiful inside and out. She was a loving daughter, sister, aunt, and friend, and will be greatly missed.”

"Our hearts go out to the family and friends of the young lady who died yesterday after a tragic accident with an airplane propeller on Cook Airfield,” the Air Capital Drop Zone said in a statement posted to Facebook. “I wasn’t there when it happened, so I will not speculate on what could have or should have happened differently. Just please keep her family, her friends, and her Air Capital Drop Zone family in your prayers and thoughts.”

The incident is currently under investigation.