MESA Jet blows over cart, injuring 3 at O'Hare

By Josh Noel
Tribune staff reporter
Published October 20, 2006


Two passengers and an airline baggage handler were injured Wednesday morning at O'Hare International Airport when a luggage cart was blasted into them by the jet engine of a plane passing by, authorities said.

The accident involving two United Airlines-affiliated planes occurred about 8:20 a.m. at gate F1 outside Terminal 2, said Wendy Abrams, spokeswoman for the Chicago Department of Aviation.

The baggage handler, a contract worker for United, was taken in serious condition to Advocate Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge, according to the Chicago Fire Department.

The passengers had minor injuries. One of them refused treatment, and the other was taken to Resurrection Medical Center in Chicago.

The incident happened as passengers were leaving a SkyWest Airlines jet via a stairway to the ground, Abrams said. Jet blast from a Mesa Airlines plane that was taxiing to a gate knocked over a Sky West baggage cart, she said.

Both planes are 50-seat regional jets, United spokeswoman Megan McCarthy said. The airlines contract with United, but they are independently owned, she said.

United began investigating soon after the accident, McCarthy said, but she did not know whether it was the result of the jet or the baggage cart being where it shouldn't have been.

"It's too soon to say exactly what kinds of things we need to do to prevent this from happening again," she said. "We will be looking at all our procedures."

Abrams said the area of the accident is leased by United and safety policies and procedures were left up to the airline.