Mechanic describes his experience with his first md-80 engine run that resulted in a sudden blast of...

Narrative:

We where on the back of a lift truck standing under the left engine (#1) trying to trim the engine when all of a sudden the engine goes to full power. I was not expecting the whole full blast of hot air and smoke in my face since this was my first time assisting in an engine trim. I looked at my partner in desperation and grabbed a blanket that he was holding in his hand and attempted to cover my face with it. Well; between the jet blast bouncing off the blast fence and the heat and smoke and just everything the blanket got yanked out of my hands and was sucked into the engine making a loud boom. Soon after that we shut down the engine and inspected it for obvious damage and found part of the blanket stuck on the fan. At that point I ran to the maintenance office and informed the supervisor (manager) of the situation. I went back to the crew and we moved the aircraft back into the hangar for further investigation. I am truly very sorry about this situation. I understand that I'm here to help fix airplanes and not damage them. I have a new found respect for jet engines and the things they are capable of since I was left with the fibers of the blanket under my finger nails and the shock of how lucky I was that it didn't suck me in too.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Mechanic describes his experience with his first MD-80 engine run that resulted in a sudden blast of hot engine air and smoke in his face and having a coach blanket sucked into the JT-8 engine causing a loud compressor stall.

Narrative: We where on the back of a lift truck standing under the left engine (#1) trying to trim the engine when all of a sudden the engine goes to full power. I was not expecting the whole full blast of hot air and smoke in my face since this was my first time assisting in an engine trim. I looked at my partner in desperation and grabbed a blanket that he was holding in his hand and attempted to cover my face with it. Well; between the jet blast bouncing off the blast fence and the heat and smoke and just everything the blanket got yanked out of my hands and was sucked into the engine making a loud boom. Soon after that we shut down the engine and inspected it for obvious damage and found part of the blanket stuck on the fan. At that point I ran to the Maintenance Office and informed the Supervisor (Manager) of the situation. I went back to the crew and we moved the aircraft back into the hangar for further investigation. I am truly very sorry about this situation. I understand that I'm here to help fix airplanes and not damage them. I have a new found respect for jet engines and the things they are capable of since I was left with the fibers of the blanket under my finger nails and the shock of how lucky I was that it didn't suck me in too.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.

Attributes
ACN	972863
Time
Date	201109
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Airport
State Reference	US
Environment
Light	Night
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	MD-80 Series (DC-9-80) Undifferentiated or Other Model
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Parked
Component
Aircraft Component	Turbine Engine
Person 1
Function	Technician
Qualification	Maintenance Airframe Maintenance Powerplant
Experience	Maintenance Technician 14
Events
Anomaly	Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy

Mechanic describes his experience with his first md-80 engine run that resulted in a sudden blast of hot engine air and smoke in his face and having a coach blanket sucked into the jt-8 engine causing a loud compressor stall.