What happened
The accident occurred on an unlighted ramp at approximately 1930 hours MST. A 12-year-old male passenger had deplaned the aircraft and walked forward along the fuselage to look into the cockpit. At that moment, he was struck by the left propeller.
The pilot stated that the shutdown of engines had been slow because the flight was essentially a training mission. The left propeller was windmilling to a stop when the incident took place. The boy's father was seated in the left seat of the cockpit at the time.
According to line crews, the boy was known to jump out of the aircraft and run around the ramp. The company president, who was acting as the pilot during this flight, stated that the boy exited the aircraft against instructions and verbal warnings.
The investigation
No mechanical examination findings are provided in the source material. The focus remains on the sequence of events during the shutdown phase.
Findings
Contributing factors included the unlighted ramp environment and the slow engine shutdown procedure. The pilot's account indicates that the propeller was still windmilling when contact occurred. Witness accounts suggest a pattern of behavior by the child involving unauthorized movement around the aircraft.