Woman Severely Injured by Small Plane’s Propeller

A woman’s arm and foot were cut off when she was hit by the propeller of a small plane at Key West International Airport, officials said.

The incident happened about 8:45 p.m. Saturday, according to the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office.

The woman, from Naples in southwest Florida, was a passenger in a private plane that was preparing to taxi, but was having some kind of problem, said Adam Linhardt, a spokesman for the sheriff’s office.

The pilot got out of the plane to see if any of its wheels where still chalked – that is, if the blocks placed by the airplane’s wheels were still in place.

“The female passenger also exited the airplane and walked to the front of the plane when she was struck by the propeller,” Linhardt said in an email.

The woman, Rebecca Lynn Gray, 45, got out of the Cessna single-engine 172S even though her husband, Walter Gray, 46, told her not to, the Miami Herald reported.

Rebecca Lynn Gray was first taken to Lower Keys Medical Center on Stock Island and later flown to Miami’s Ryder Trauma Center.

While Monroe County sheriff’s officials indicate the woman has severe arm and leg injuries, the Florida Highway Patrol, the investigating agency could only confirm that the woman’s arm was severed, the Herald reported.

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