A Navy employee nearly lost his scalp last year when he was struck by an airplane taking off during a submarine training exercise in the Arctic.
Travis Major was trying to take a photo of the the twin-prop aircraft taking off from a remote airstrip 140 miles north of Deadhorse, Alaska. He thought the photo would be a nice souvenir for his children, but he was struck in the head by the aircraft’s left wing after the pilot took a low turn during take off.
Major’s scalp “was laying back like a toupee,” one bystander told the Federal Aviation Administration. He was still conscious asking what happened when another man brought the Navy camp doctor to the scene.
“The next thing he remembered was waking up in the medevac helicopter,” a National Transportation Safety Board report said.
Major survived and told investigators he didn’t remember what happened. He did recall speaking with the pilot, Ryan Gambucci, about where he could safely take the photos. Witnesses reported the two had come to an understanding that Major would take pictures at the end of the runway. Gambucci recalled no such conversation, but one witness told investigators he saw Major give Gambucci a thumbs-up sign.
Another witness told his colleague, “Wow he’s staying really low,” as the plane started to take off. As it accelerated, he saw the plane bank quickly to the left about 150 feet from Major, just like a plane that “waves its wings” during a flyby. As the wing came down, it created a “poof” of snow, knocking Major back onto his right side. The plane turned around and landed after the hit. It was damaged and had “blood everywhere,” one witness said.
“It looked like a fatality, and both pilots were ashen white in the face.”
Major realized something was wrong almost immediately after the plane starting taking off.
“After a short period, I looked up and saw the plane in an unexpected position coming down the runway. Essentially, I was able to quickly triangulate the height, speed and angle, and realized this is not what was originally planned,” Major told the NTSB investigator. “I don’t remember anything after that except brief moments during the helicopter transit to Prudhoe Bay.”
The accident occurred during the Navy’s 2018 ICEX exercises, a five-week event where submarines practice in the Arctic. Submarines from Washington state, Connecticut, and the U.K. participated in the exercises, which included breaking through ice to surface in the North Pole and firing dummy torpedoes.
The FAA revoked Gambucci’s pilot license after the accident but returned it in August. The NTSB is expected to make a probable-cause determination in the next two to three weeks.
