Flight Crew reported a safety cone was ingested by a running engine after a ground crewman approached too close to the engine.
Synopsis
Flight Crew reported a safety cone was ingested by a running engine after a ground crewman approached too close to the engine.
Narrative
Landed Runway XX at ZZZ; taxied to gate. Didn't have 2 minute cool down; there were no marshalers at Gate XX. I was trying to find the Ops frequency and contacted Ops to see if we were still at Gate XX; at which point we saw marshalers going to Gate XY and started marshaling us in. I was watching them and didn't trigger to turn on the APU. Marshalers parked us; said chocks were set and captain pointed at the screen; and I turned the APU on (both engines still running at this point). Both engines were at idle. Around 30% spin up; felt a shunt and heard a noise from the right side of the cabin. Captain asked what that was; I thought it was the APU conking out (plane had been written up for a recirculation fan issue when we got it; and the only change we'd made was the APU turning). Captain asked if it was a baggage cart that had hit us or something; so I started looking around. Looked out and saw ground crew looking around and looking at engine 2. After the APU reached 100% and the engines were shut down; I (First Officer) opened the window and asked what happened; to which the ground crew said a cone went into the engine. Captain immediately sent message to Dispatch and was on the phone with company as I waited for the jet bridge to connect so I could do my walk around.When doing my walk around; asked the ground crew person who was handling the cone what happened; he said he 'got close to the engine; then something didn't feel right - like the cone was pulling'. He said he then 'pulled back; and that's when the cone got sucked into the engine'. It was an orange cone connected by a pipe. The cone closest to the engine had been sucked in. I did notice the ramper in question had Bose headphones around his head but not over his ears when I was talking to him. Don't know if that was a factor.On walk around; found most of the cone behind the intake; pieces in the stator vanes; and debris strewn across the ramp. Pieces found behind Left Main Landing Gear; and about as far back as about 30 feet behind the tail of the plane. No damage noted to landing gears or tires. Captain came out and also assessed the damage; and we informed the next crew of the situation as well.APU could have been turned on sooner to allow engine to be shut down quicker. Ramp crew should wait to approach engines until they're shut down.
Second reporter narrative
We landed in ZZZ on Runway XX. The taxi to our planned gate; Gate XX; was short. The engines had not passed the 2-minute cool-down prior to entering the ramp. As we entered the ramp area; no rampers were at Gate XX; but they were starting to walk out to Gate XY. First Officer then tried to reach Operations via radio at least twice but didn't get a response. Simultaneously; I was being marshalled to Gate XY so we proceeded to park at Gate XY. I parked at the gate without incident and set the parking brake. I looked down and noticed the APU had not yet started and pointed it out to the First Officer. Between the cool-down period; trying to verify the gate; and watching for obstacles on the ramp; the APU had not yet been started. The engines were idle while the APU was starting. At approximately 20-30% APU; we felt an impact on the right side of the aircraft; followed by a loud noise. I asked what happened. There were no EICAS or gauge indications of a problem. The First Officer thought maybe the APU malfunctioned during the start and I asked if a baggage cart impacted the aircraft. Around this time the marshaller started looking toward Engine 2. When the APU reached 100% I shut both engines down. The First Officer opened his window and asked what happened. The ground crew indicated that ENG 2 had ingested an orange traffic cone. I immediately sent an ACARS to dispatch and called Maintenance to report the incident. The First Officer conducted his walk-around and assessed the ENG 2 damage; taking pictures which he sent to Maintenance via e-mail. Upon his return; the First Officer provided the following explanation from the employee who placed the cone:The ramper allegedly explained that as he went to place the cones in front of ENG 2; two orange pyramid-shaped traffic cones connected by a white plastic pipe; he felt the engine start to ingest the cone furthest from him. He stepped back but the cone didn't stay connected to the pipe. The First Officer noted that the ramper responsible for cone placement was wearing a Bose headset. This is extremely uncommon. So uncommon that I've never seen a ramp worker with a Bose headset or similar headset capable of playing music. I do not know if anything was interfering with the ramp worker's ability to properly hear the aircraft engines. After the APU was off and the airplane was connected to the GPU; I conducted a visual inspection of ENG 2 and called maintenance with an update of the ground crew's explanation of how the cone was ingested. I made a video recording of the fan blades. During this time; the ramp worker was telling the First Officer that he wasn't sure whether or not he should have told us to shut-down the engine when the cone was ingested. Ground crew should be trained to recognize when an engine is on and when to notify the crew to immediately shut the engine down. The ramp worker could have been killed due to his lack of training in recognizing an operating engine. Engines can be running at the gate for any number of valid reasons and ground crew should be trained when to recognize an operating engine. Ground crew should be properly trained in hand signals for an abnormality. Pilots could wait to taxi into the gate until the 2-minute cool down passes and the APU is operational to further prevent these kind of incidents.
Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.