--- title: "How the luckiest sailor on earth survived being sucked into a jet engine" description: "Mere seconds before the jet sped down the runway, an accident that forever changed flight operations procedures occurred. Read me on WATM." date: "2021-03-25" modified: "2021-03-25" authors: - name: "Tim Kirkpatrick" link: "https://www.wearethemighty.com/authors/tkirkpatrick.md" url: "https://www.wearethemighty.com/mighty-history/sailor-survived-being-sucked-into-a-jet-engine/" categories: - "Aircraft" - "Gulf War" - "History" - "Navy" - "Tactical" - "War History" --- # How the luckiest sailor on earth survived being sucked into a jet engine ![]() During Desert Storm, the USS Theodore Roosevelt was on high alert. Petty Officers JD Bridges and Michael McDonald were prepping an A-6 Intruder fighter jet before takeoff. It was business as usual. --- Mere seconds before the jet will sped down the runway, an accident that forever changed flight operations procedures occurred. Bridges was completing checks to ensure the fighter was connected to the deck's catapult for launch when he got too close to the high-powered engine and the turbine intake sucked him up in a split-second. At full throttle, the Intruder's engine generates 9,300 pounds of thrust — twice as strong as the most powerful tornado on record. After Bridges got sucked in, the engine's force violently pulled off his float coat, goggles, and the helmet from his head. Investigators believe that because his helmet was shredded by the sharp spinning blades, it partially jammed the engine. The way the engine was designed, it ceased its own power and shut down immediately. Miraculously, Bridges' shoulder wedged against the nose cone as the engine slowed and he managed to remove himself out from the powerful intake space — escaping certain death. The aircraft's pilot was ready to take off when he heard the disruption and powered down right away. ### Also Read: This is why landing on an aircraft carrier never gets easy Within moments, Bridges was carried to safety, suffering from a broken collarbone, superficial cuts from a few pieces of shrapnel, and a blown ear drum. The Navy now uses this historic video as a training tool of what not to do while on the flight deck. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AF55oyAJDBk Bridges at a news conference a day after the accident. ([Lithdad](), YouTube) ## Author Tim Kirkpatrick entered the Navy in 2007 as a Hospital Corpsman and deployed to Sangin, Afghanistan with 3rd Battalion 5th Marines in the fall of 2010. Tim now has degrees in both Film Production and Screenwriting. tim.kirkpatrick@wearethemighty.com ## More - [A sailor’s worst nightmare: Surviving a sinking ship]() - [How a decorated Navy aviator survived ‘the most replayed carrier crash’ ever]() - [How ‘The Fastest Man on Earth’ tested supersonic ejection seats on himself]() - [How sailors keep their warships from breaking down]() - [This ill-fated PR flight kept the Valkyrie from changing Air Force history]() - [That time Neil Armstrong survived ejecting from his fighter jet in Korea]() - [How the British made a jet-powered, flying boat fighter plane]() - [How a Soviet jump jet lead to a version of the Joint Strike Fighter]()